Book Covers

 Melissa

First of all, I'm obsessed with Chip Kidd's overall vibe, his slanted glasses and skanky mic.

"Don't judge a book by its cover"

This is a phrase that has been uttered over and over. But, in reality, in a time of fast-paced content and instant gratification, most people really are only judging a book by its cover. I was buying a book for class, a copy of Sanshiro, and I spent $10 extra to get a "prettier" copy. It's the same content, but I liked the cover better. And that's a book I knew the contents of. When choosing a book, I am drawn to the work that went into the cover. The details of the story seep out onto the cover, drawing you in. Some may think it's tacky or wasteful, but it works, doesn't it? I prefer a physical book to reading online; I always have. But I am picky even in my physical books. If the cover bores me, so will the book. That type of thinking isn't correct, but it's just a weird passive thought I receive when seeing a white cover with words scribbled on the front. Like the Audrey Hepburn book shown in the TED Talk. I understand his thoughts on not wanting to hand-feed the audience the meaning of the book through the cover, but I think a book featuring a real person should show the person on the cover.

I'm against the idea that there are only words or only a picture. In that case, come up with a cover that refers to a key factor in the book without it being the same as the cover. Kidd was inspired by dino bones to make a cover for Jurassic park. If it were me, I would perhaps feature a muddy dino footprint. The climax of the first Jurassic Park does happen in a chase between a T-rex and a car of people desperately trying to escape in the rain. You can tell the book is about dinosaurs with either cover, but one conveys them in the past while the other brings the threat to the present.

I brought my friend visiting from Japan to Barnes & Noble. She wanted to get a classic book. She looked at old famous fiction and horror. She landed on a collection of Edgar Allen Poe's works. The cover was Black with red carvings and an image of Poe in the center. It was creepy and dark, much like Poe's works. That cover was beautiful and stuck out amongst the many other books we were looking at. And, despite the heavier price, it was the book my friend chose. 

Physical books are becoming things to collect more and more as technology advances. So, what's the harm in dressing them up to catch someone's eye? Most of my personal collection is pretty, with colors and special features justifying a higher ticket.