Category: graphic design

People buy bookcovers, not books

From Brand Autopsy:

“Borders recently tested a front-facing display strategy where more books were stocked with their covers, not spines, facing customers. Sales increased by 9.0%. The strategy was so successful, all Borders bookstores will be switching to the front-facing strategy in the next couple of weeks.” Link

From Rands in Repose:

“Anyone who has ever been in a bookstore knows that you’re not browsing books; you’re browsing covers.” (via Brocatus Link) Link

Silly me. I thought people bought books because of the words contained inside the covers.

Is design transitive?

Hugh Graham writes that “design is too often about the transitive and the temporary.” (Transitive—the word comes from the Latin and means “passing over”) Consider how quickly designers have to change and adapt to generational demographics.

Brand Noise offers this:

“According to Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow in a new book titled After the Baby Boomers the key differences between Gen Y and Baby Boomers include that the younger generation is ‘spending more time in school, remaining financially independent… and changing jobs more often.’” Link

Now consider the Baby Boomers (again from Brand Noise):

“They comprise nearly 24% of the population, have a buying power of $3 trillion, and include many of the country’s current business and political leaders. But marketers misunderstand—and inefficiently target—this country’s 78 million baby boomers.” Link

Designers, by the nature of their craft, are communication experts and should be able to articulate ideas, brands, and identity to various changing demographics successfully providing they are supplied with reliable research. Hugh Graham agrees that change is the new norm, but pushes beyond that and proposes that “there’s a new form of change on the horizon; we’re heading into a constrained environment where the designer’s artistry and craft will have to encourage what lasts, what matters, what sustains.” Link

Can design be both transitive and sustainable? Only time will tell.

Vanessa Boyd : Hunger : Digipack Design


Copies finally arrived. Actually, they arrived more than a week ago, but I’ve been rather busy and I am just getting around to posting about its arrival.

The Hunger CD design was completed months ago. The design process was completed via teleconference (Vanessa Boyd living in New York City) and digital transfer (i.e. emailing art/corrections/finals via high-speed internet). It’s nice to see the final manufactured product. Click on the image to see the inside and back of the package design on my Flickr photostream.

Hot off the press!

They arrived yesterday–thousands of them. Last night I received copies of the debut issue of D’licious Magazine. There’s something special–magical–about holding months of hard work, long hours and gallons of coffee in the final form of the printed product. Join me Saturday night for the d’licious magazine release party!

Here’s the details:

Saturday, August 5, 2006 from 7:00pm– until
Contact: D’licious Magazine at info@dliciousmag.com

D’licious Magazine will debut its premier issue. Come experience a taste of Asheville’s cuisine, entertainment, breweries and wineries at the Haywood Park Ballroom (1 Battery Park Ave., Asheville, NC 28801) underneath the Haywood Park Hotel in the heart of downtown Asheville.

Food and beverages provided by: Belly of Buddha Catering, the Flying Frog Cafe, the Frog Bar and Deli, Biltmore Estate Stable Café, Thai Basil, Hannah Flannigans, Skully’s Signature Dine & Drink, Digable Pizza, Greenlife Grocery, Sweet Monkey Bakery & Catering, Clingman Ave. Coffee and Catering, Zuma Too: Chef Oso’s Culinary Passport, Haywood Road Market, Sclafani Distributors, the Biltmore Estate Winery, Hanover Park Winery, the French Broad Brewing Company, Highlands Brewery and the Pisgah Brewery.

Additional sponsors: The Westville Pub, Kabloom, 96.5 WOXL, and the Art of Microbrewing by Stephen Patrick Boland and Kevin Marino.

Entertainment by: David Stevenson, Cabo Verde, Free Planet Radio and Jen and the Juice.

Purchase tickets today: The Haywood Park Hotel, The French Broad Brewery, Greenlife, Hannah Flannigans, Clingman Ave. Coffee and Catering, Skully’s Signature Dine & Drink, The Haywood Road Market, Orbit DVD and Diggin Art.

Tickets are $25 in advance and $35 at the door.