AICE Media

Had Kindle Killed the Book Cover?

This article brings to light the shift between hard cover and digital book covers. A particular case was studied-the cover of Daylight Savings. This cover allowed for a count-down of the book's release as well as an interactive element; it allowed users to drag their finger along the cover, creating a water ripple and splashes. This innovation poses the question: what exactly is the limit of digital covers?
Carin Goldberg further explored this idea with her design students, challenging them to incorporate animations, unique typography, and audio into digital book covers. Designers must not get swept up by the new gadgets and functions, however. A book cover must remain legible and accessible. This digital growth allows for the idea of cover testing, a practice usually utilized by magazines. Magazines design 10-20 covers and release all of them, watching closely to see which sells best.
All of this innovation brings to mind the early stages of eBooks; originally, eBooks did not include a cover. Being immediately thrust into a book, without a cover/introduction page, made many uncomfortable, as the lead-in into a book is traditional and expected.

"Increasingly, instead, they scroll through Amazon's postage stamp-sized pictures, which don't actually cover anything, and instead operate as visual portals into an entire webpage of data (publication date, reader reviews, price) some of which can also be found on a physical cover and some of which cannot."
"The cover "functions as an emotional visual touchstone," Goldberg says."

This article has been my favorite so far. I think it is important for reads and traditional designers to stop and realize eBooks aren't necessarily the demise of books. eBooks have revealed new ways to design and market, not destroyed an old one. The idea of adding animations to a book cover is so interesting to me, it is a form of growth, a new platform for designers to toy with and perfect.