Book Design - Dawson

First of all, I just wanted to comment on the fact that the video and article both feel like true creatures of the early 2010's.  It was the peak of the e-book craze, where many feared physical books were on the brink of extinction.  It's no wonder publishers would be more set than ever on creating something special with their cover art in order to offer an experience that digital publishers cannot.  I think they both offer a fascinating perspective on it that I had never really considered before.  You never think about how much goes into designing a book's cover and design like that, and how hard they work to translate the author's intent through to the imagery of the cover.  And those are definitely the books you want to buy physical copies of.  For example, there's this horror novel "House of Leaves" that not only uses the same principles in its cover design, but it tells the story through the page design and formatting of every single one of its pages.  A truly unique experience that can only be had with a physical copy of the book.  

I really agree with his point that it is like translation.  The only difference is the medium of translation.  Rather than translation between languages, it is translating the language of the text to imagery.  That's a really fascinating perspective.  While publishers often make these decisions for marketability, it’s still an art form, as he said.  I don't know if this is the same for everyone, but when I am reading a physical book, the cover lays in the back of my mind the entire time.  Everything else happens in the context of the cover.  A good cover amplifies the reading experience.  It deepens your understanding of and connection with the story as you begin to realize why it was designed that way.  A bad cover might not necessarily make the experience worse, per se, but a good cover will enhance it.  The cover really conveys the author's intent.  As translators, we have to do the same thing with our translations.  We have to ensure that our writing conveys the author’s intent through language, just as a good cover conveys it through imagery.

Dawson Maska