Kristin Seymour Homework 2
Both articles, The Photo Book Will Rise Again and Hack the Cover
were very well written, intriguing and very relevant to this class. I love the first person and casual style of writing bot authors used, it made it seem like they were talking right to me. They are both relating around the topic of technology and how it is taking over the world, more specifically books.
I feel like this is the same old song just a different tune. Everyone
is so worried about hoe technology is taking us over and a part of every little tings in our lives. Class after class I have read articles about how we are corrupted with technology or how technology is saving our lives. Even though both articles are mainly viewing technology as a negative affect of books, they do have touches of hope for the paper filled books.
The Photo Book Will Rise Again, by Alan Rapp talks about the
cliché photo book as being a “coffee-‐table” sized book. To me this is also what I remember as a photo book. I grew up with Kevin Fleming’s photo books. They are the cliché coffee table sized books with photos covering a whole page and two page spreads. They are very expensive, nothing like some of the photo books sold at Dashwood, but they are still geared toward the upper middle class. These books are not the “impulse buy” like what Rapp was explaining. Rapp also talks about the visual literacy required for these books. The average person and consumer, first of all don’t care about the topics that photo books are often about, and secondly are not artistically inclined enough to pay attention or be
aware of the sequence within the books. Ivan Sigal talked extensively about the time and thought that went into the sequencing of his photo book. The average person would not even think twice while flipping through the pages of a photo book, about why one photo is juxtaposed next to another and the deeper conceptual meaning that implies.
Raab also talks about how “the independently published photo
book is flourishing”. I do see this a lot in our little technology-‐obsessed world. He talks about Blurb and LuLu, but I see this more with Shutterfly. I am constantly receiving emails with offers to make photo books with Shutterfly. In the past people would go and print their 4 by 6 inch photos out and then stick them in the plastic sleeves of an album. Somewhere in the mix of things society decided that this was not personal enough and decided that independently made photo books on line were more personal. Then pops up numerous sites files with ready-‐ made templates where all you must do is upload a digital image and insert it into the box. Rabb is on point with his article, photo books are the aesthetic of yesterday and only a certain class and intellectual level of people will continue to purchase famous artists’ photo books.
Craig Mod’s article Hack the Cover focuses more specifically on the
covers of books and the pages within. He talks about how with the explosion of digital books, the need for cover art as well as page designs are becoming minimal. He talks about how when you download a book from amazon the only part of the cover you see is a miniature thumbnail of the compressed images. When you open the book most of the time it bypasses the cover as well as the table of contents. I argue that that little thumbnail that Mod claims is so insignificant is important. When
looking at my kindle to choose a book to read, the thumbnail is very helpful. I do not read the caption under the book; I look at the thumbnail and know what book to read.
Mod made a great comparison of book covers to music album
covers. Both are a dying art with the invention of digital downloads. He also describes the “new” qualities for a book cover. These are “Iconographic, large typography and bold”. The examples he showed as well as the criteria remind me of the qualities needed for a well-‐ invented poster or advertisement. The book cover art these days must be easily readable at any size or resolution. This is also true for advertisements.
Mod sees book covers as a disappearing art form whereas I see it
more as a changing art form. Books have changed over the centuries and this is just another change. People are already rebellion against technology and are going back to print versions of books. In my opinion only time will tell.