The book of the IPad era

-craig Mod, procures 2010 | Logout, Echokou, IFANR

Finally, it's a relief.

The publishing industry is teetering, Kindle sales are rising, and book addicts fall asleep in tears. But seriously, what's so good about crying?

What is being lost is just a paperback book that is thrown after reading.
A paperback used in the airport to pass the time.
A paperback book by the Sea.

What is losing is the residue of publishing: disposable books. These books are printed without regard to the form and durability of the content, and are disposable consumables. Moving is often thrown into the dustbin by us.

This is the first batch of books to be eliminated. I have to say it again.

As soon as we get out of this burden, we can streamline the increasingly outdated distribution channels. After the disappearance of physical form, there is no need for rotted mode of transport.

The potential benefits are obvious: more avantgarde, bolder e-books have lower publishing thresholds, more trendy storytelling, less environmental damage, more editorial importance and, paradoxically, higher quality print volumes.

I've been trying to make more beautiful printed books for the past six years from 2003 to 2009. For six years, concentrate on printing books. In 21st century.

I love this thing, I love the process, love the final product. I love ink and a thick stack of paper that sexy touch. But I can also tell you: I am thrilled as a content creator, designer and issuer of the iPad and the potential it brings.

The IPad's arrival has finally provided us with a digital form of rich content consumption platform. What does that mean? To understand why the IPad is so exciting, we need to look back on history.

I'm going to analyze how paper books stand out in front of digital distribution and why we don't want to look at the Long-form text on the screen, and how the IPad can change. I think we can find out in this process when the content should be printed and when it will be digitized.

This is a dialogue for book creators, content creators, authors, and designers. Write to someone who loves to create beautiful things. A storyteller who is willing to take risks and chooses the most appropriate form and medium for his work.

The act of printing has long been lifted too high. The value of a thing lies in its content, not just in its existence. For a book, this value is the essential link between the book and the content.

Let's divide the content broadly into two categories:

does not have a well-defined form of content (the irrelevant form of the content (Fig. 1), formless) defines the content of the presentation beforehand (Figure 2), definite

Irrelevant forms of content can be incorporated into any format without losing its essential meaning. Its content is out of the layout. Most nonfiction works of fiction have nothing to do with the form.

Danielle Steele sitting in front of the computer will not think more words printed out after the appearance. She thought of the story as a waterfall of words that could be put into any container (in fact, she would be more likely to think of something tricky or sexy, but neither would affect the final style). Danielle Steele is famous for his romantic novels, which has sold over 600 million volumes and is called Western Qiong Yao by some people.

The content of a defined form is essentially an irrelevant form of content. Most words are combined with pictures, graphs, and poems. The content may also be restructured, but the form of reorganization requires that the original meaning and quality of the text may change.

Figure 1

Irrelevant form of content-meaning is not affected by the container

Figure 2

The content of form-meaning changes with the container

You can be very sure that Mark Z Danielewski will take note of the final form of his next novel. His content is so demanding form that it is impossible to retain the original intention at the same time of digitalization. For example, the book "Only Revolutions", which many people dislike, forces the reader to flip back and forth between the two characters ' stories. The two stories start at both ends of the book, and the story begins with the page header and footer. Simply speaking, both ends are covers, each page is inverted to distinguish between different stories, photo links.

Designers, of course, may also work with the author, so that the meaning of the layout added into the original irrelevant form of content. The final combination of design and text becomes the definite content (example: Vas).

Extreme and throughout the definition of the form of examples please see Tufte's book. Whether you love him or hate him, you have to admit that he is a rare combination of writers and designers, completely obsessed with the final form, meaning and perfect layout. (Figure 3)

When you look at a book as an object, the key difference between irrelevant and defined forms is the interaction between the content and the paper. Irrelevant form of content does not care about the page or the border, and the definition of the form of content is not only concerned about the page is very important. It is edited, converted and resized to fit the page. In a sense, the content of the definition form takes the page as a canvas--with dimensions and limitations--and promotes these features to the height of improving the body and finishing the content.

In short, the irrelevant form of the content does not care about the container, and the definition of the form of the content of the container as a canvas. The content of an unrelated form usually has only text, and the content of the defined form usually contains some visual elements in the text.

Figure 3

tufte--hug his canvas.

Figure 4

"Designing Books"--note the physical dimensions of the book

Most of what we consume happens to be irrelevant in form. The mainstream of paper books-fiction and nonfiction-are irrelevant styles.

Over the past two years, there has been a surge in the number of devices suited to display irrelevant forms of content, most notably the Kindle. Relatively less obvious is the iPhone, albeit a bit small, but its high-resolution screen makes long text reading more comfortable than traditional digital displays.

In other words, the content of unrelated forms of consumption through digital carriers is easier and more comfortable than ever.

Is such reading as comfortable as reading a paper book?

Maybe not, but the gap is getting smaller.

When people mourn paper books, they often put their comfort in their mouth. They said: "My eyes are more tired," "the battery soon ran out", "the screen is not clear in the sun," "when the bath can not see."

It is noteworthy that no one complains that the meaning of the words has been lost. The book has not become more difficult to understand and more confusing because of digitalization. The controversy is mainly about the quality of the display. Advances in technology (screens and batteries) will end this discussion sooner or later, taking into account additional features such as notes, bookmarks, search, and so on, the degree of readability of digital content is bound to go beyond paper books.

The convenience of digital content-directional, lightweight (file volume and physical volume), searchable has already begun to shake the traditional printing products.

The coping method was once simple:
Stop printing irrelevant forms of content, only the content of carefully defined forms.

The arrival of the IPAD has changed all this.

It's not strange to love paper books-we hold books in our hearts. Unlike a computer screen, the Kindle and the IPhone (or the IPad) mimic this motherly embrace, and the text is closer to us and more suited to the direction of the screen. The seemingly innocuous act of touching the text also plays a crucial role in increasing the intimacy of the reading experience.

The Kindle and the IPhone are good, but they're all just for text.

The IPAD has changed the experience equation (Figure 5), bringing iphone/kindle excellent text readability into a larger canvas. It combines a iphone/kindle intimate and comfortable reading experience, as well as an area and function that is sufficient to accommodate a carefully laid out canvas.

Figure 5

New equation--keeping the structure in the digital style

Figure 6

Define style content on IPad 1:1 Show-this is the first

What does that mean? The content of the 1:1 digital version definition style (Figure 6) is now possible. But I don't think it's a solution that we should embrace blindly. The content of the style defined on a paper book is tailored to that canvas, to the size of the page. Although the IPad's physical size may resemble these books, the direct copy layout may have betrayed the interactive mode introduced by the new canvas and ipad.

Take the basic thing of paper for example. The hint of a flip page effect is already boring and compelling on the iPhone. I suspect it might be more serious on the iPad. There is no need for the content stream to be limited to the size of the page. One simple way to recreate the layout of a book is to arrange sections horizontally and to smooth the display vertically (Figure 7).

Figure 7

Vertical chapters-breaking stereotypes

Figure 8

Endless Smooth content Display

In the paper books, the two pages that are spread out are our canvases. It's easy to make people want to continue on the IPad. Do not do this, while considering the physical limitations of the IPad canvas device should also embrace the edge of the screen and efficient space beyond.

We will see a new narrative form rising on this canvas. This is an opportunity to redefine the way readers interact with content. It's also a great opportunity to control content ourselves.

So: Paper books have been finished? Not so fast.

The terms of the IPad's content are still very vague. No one of us has enough time to give them a verdict. I've spent six years thinking about materials, styles, physical properties, content, and what I'm good at-creating paper books.

Here are my views on the future of the printing products in the current development tide.

Ask yourself: "Can you discard your work?" When I think about it, I see only one obvious general rule:

The content of

irrelevant representations is digitized. Define the content of the expression, divided into the IPad and print two types of

The final printed book-Our work-must be finely crafted. They must be the creations of designers, distributors and writers on canvas. This is also the only way to make books as objects in the forward wave of never be abandoned.

Figure 9a

Not discarded books--1871 year printing

Figure 9b

Not discarded books--1871 year printing

I propose that the following should be considered when considering printing books:

The books we make must take advantage of the physical characteristics--complete the narrative with the content ensemble. The books we make must be confident enough in the form and the material chosen. The books we make must squeeze the advantage of printing. The books we do must endure forever (Fig. 9a, fig. 9b).

The result:

The books we make will feel complete and strong. The books we make will smell like libraries in memory. The books we do make it possible for the next generation to embrace digital content to understand its value. The books we do can awaken people. Paper books can be a sculpture of thoughts.

The lack of them will be run over by the digital process and quickly forgotten.

Goodbye, disposable books!

Hello, new Canvas!

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Because of the limitation of the website template, the style defined by the original text cannot be reproduced completely. At the end of the article, the author shows a small collection of books in his library, please check the original link. Some pictures of his design works please see here.

Source: http://www.ifanr.com/8028