Karen Wester NewtonOct 9 2009 1:09 PM
As a Kindle owner, I have to say that I think artists need to think long term and not react to the loss of what they have now but look to what they will have in the future.eReaders are growing in popularity.Right now the e-ink ones can\'t display color but that\'s coming.When you think about it, future books will really need TWO covers, one for print and one optimized for e-ink (color and black and white).The screen savers on the Kindle look much better than most book cover because they were designed for what the Kindle can do.
Just because it\'s an ebook doesn\'t mean it doesn\'t need a cover.Also, online websites that sell ebook always need cover designs.andres quesadaOct 9 2009 1:52 PM
Killing the Kindle is, I imagine a way to push the \"idea\" of the Kindle to it\'s next most obvious evolutionary iteration.The art of book cover design will continue. It may just be something digitized. Whether it\'s Ayn Rand or the New York Times, paper is a hard sell with so many of us already comfortable reading from an iPhone display. It forces you to realize the possible and imminent death of an industry. It will be a slow death, but it\'s coming.
Amazon or someone else will push this technology. We\'ll all just have to find a way to push what we do back upon it.Christopher LaughlinOct 9 2009 2:19 PM
That just made my day. Extremely well-done video with a great message behind it.
Yumma Samuel RothmanOct 10 2009 12:14 AM
hahaha!!! its the Office Space!!
EgyedbOct 10 2009 3:16 AM
I think is the same story with the music album covers, or daily newspapers & magazines. They evolve into something new. Designers must find new ways, they have to study and experiment what the future will look like. This is a very exiting moment a think, and can\'t be stopped. In place of making videos like this, please learn to live with the future technologies, and explore them further.
DwightOct 10 2009 8:53 AM
@andres and Egyedb, I agree.
This video is just annoying. Can\'t believe AIGA supported this mindless bashing.
Wrote my reaction to the video in my blog: http://www.badbullfrog.com/2009/10/10/designers-are-acting-like-spoiled-brats/Dave AldrichOct 10 2009 8:58 AM
Then what\'s next? Fine art? Oh those pesky Michelangelos and Rembrandts. No one goes to museums anymore. Thank goodness for my handy e-reader. Now I can download Mona and enjoy her smile any time I want.
Okay, I know that\'s over the top, but I want to believe that people will always enjoy holding a book in their hands and flipping its pages, over booting up a Kindle or Sony Reader. I design books, so I do have a vested interested here but it saddens me to see this settling for technological expediency.
Lead the Mr. Brock. Lead the way!karenOct 10 2009 11:52 AM
I\'m a book cover designer and I do not hate the Kindle (actually would love one for my birthday). Through work I have a Sony E-Reader, which actually serves as a huge convenience when I have multiple manuscripts to read. But I would be lying to say that I do not have anxieties about the future of book publishing and what it can mean for print designers. Lets hope we can all coexist.
MCMOct 10 2009 1:11 PM
Designers shouldn\'t be faulted for complaining about Kindle... it\'s a huge step backward in terms of what\'s possible in the digital world.It reminds me of ten years ago, when designers first started looking at the web and had panic attacks and aneurisms en masse.
The fear is that Amazon won\'t feel compelled to innovate with the Kindle, so we\'ll go from an era of beautiful, rich design, back to the early days of the printing press (which was probably more artistically sophisticated itself).If you think about what SHOULD BE possible today, and look at what Kindle delivers, it\'s insanely frustrating.
That said, I bet none of this will be an issue in five years, once Apple makes a tablet and there\'s some actual competition in the market.Barry QuinnOct 10 2009 10:34 PM
Not a good argument, nor is it even well done.
I get that they are upset about the lost art of the book. It makes sense, books are amazing artifacts. Beautiful to hold. Nice to own. Great to design. Awesome to own.
BUT designers should stop confusing the PRINTED word with the WRITTEN word...
Publishers make \'books\', writer create stories, and stories do not need the printed page to be amazing. Just like music did not \'need\' to be on vinyl and films could exist beyond the screen.
Books are amazing and they will be around for a while, in some cases the printing of the book is the point, in others the printing is just the delivery channel.Leland ScantleburyOct 11 2009 4:49 PM
I love that first hit with the baseball bat. Pieces flying everywhere, it\'s just beautiful.
I think a lot of people are missing the point of this video. It isn\'t necessarily an attack on e-readers, nor in support of books purely in paper form. It\'s attacking the Kindle. A device that is doing a terrible job of trying to replace books by not incorporating necessary elements like cover design or color pictures. On top of that, Amazon has a fascist control over the content.
Look, the Kindle is a great idea done horribly. Let it be smashed - not in protest of progress, but protest of regression.HerrimanjoeOct 12 2009 12:20 PM
Covers exist to sell. Where this video misses the point is that people who are avid readers are already sold. They know and love certain authors and could care less what the cover looks like. They are waiting for the next release. I think the same applies to music. Why pay more for a CD when the content, the tracks are what I\'m really after? The only time when album art or book covers affect my decision is in a store, on a shelf.
charlieOct 12 2009 12:42 PM
I\'m am just starting at designing books and book covers, I guess I´m not that emotional or hatefull at the kindle BUT, I think there could be A 1,000 better ways to express you\'re concerns than this video, AND I LOVED OFFICE SPACE, but I guess we have to get in line with the future.
KyleOct 13 2009 6:30 PM
I think we\'re being a liiiiiiiiittle dramatic here.
Everything is moving in an electronic direction, it was only a matter of time before books got the 2k9 treatment. Maybe it\'s time for \"book cover artist\" to lighten up and find new creative avenues to apply their skill to.
Not to mention they just wasted $300 on a perfectly good Kindle, which just happens to be at the top of my Christmas list.BrunoOct 29 2009 11:25 AM
Awesome! :)
shoehineboyOct 29 2009 12:46 PM
Good design will always prevail. With other options from both Barnes and Noble and Sony, it will only get better. The iPod wasn\'t the first mp3 player...it was just the first to put an emphasis on smart design. The same will happen here. Remain calm. No need to smash things.