Custom Media Jackets
From Zanecorpwiki
Contents |
Overview
Ever since I saw pictures of a bookstore re-arranged by spine color, I've wanted to do that. Scan/photo the spines and then analyze the average color, have computer spit out order.
Then saw this and thought: we could do better if we printed our own jackets. The problem with the color first approach is that it mixes up all your books (hence Jen told me I couldn't do it). However, with your own jackets, you can keep the order, put in a new order, and actually make your ordering better because now you have this strong visual cue.
You could also do as the real stars jackets and provide commentary, place your reviews, whatever. Synergies well with a knowledge base. Put standard icons on spin, ratings from yourself, rotten tomatoes, whatever. Possibilities endless.
Schemes
Various ideas for encoding schemes. These are not distinct, and some (though not all) are compatible.
Dewey Decimal System Conversion
Formulaic conversion of DDS to color space, or more probably, across the hue. Can quickly peg any title. Naturally makes for pleasing arrangement. A linear conversion would lead to certain areas of the color space with heavy population, others with very little. Probably makes sense to do some kind of weighted spread based on general distribution or distribution of a particular set.
Not ideal, but may be the best approach if the goal is aesthetic arrangement of the entire set.
Personal Category
Obviously one could develop personal categories as well. One of the problems with DDS is that a strictly linear placement is quite restrictive. Is an art history book a book on history or art? The system has answers to all this, but the point is that for a very personal arrangement some other scheme might be more satisfying.
One could introduce bands and organize according to the primary band with secondary bands indicating sub-categorization. So art history may be an 'art' book first and a 'history' book secend.
Color Blending
Would be fun to play with actual blending. I.e. art is yellow, history is blue, art history is therefore green. Problem is that we would be limited to 3-4 primary (thinking RGB vs. CYMK) primaries which, at first glance, doesn't seem expressive enough. Messing with secondary and tertiary colors as primary categories would likely lead to muddy colors very quickly.
One possibility would be to combine this idea with banding. So, if we had three bands of colors, then with three primaries, we could get 27 basic categories (3^3). Not clear if there would be any naturally aesthetic arrangement here. Also, since the encoding would be somewhat arbitrary (if history is 'red red red' and art is 'green blue green' weed end up with 'orange purple orange'... which doesn't seem to naturally communicate anything).
Interesting concepts, but may be a dead end.
HSV Encoding
Encode multiple dimensions in color; e.g.: hue = category, saturation = rating. Would probably arrange according to hue. Also possible to limit the value encoding to a band, or include a full value band, on spine or across entire jacket, in order to identify place.
Numeric Encoding
Useful to include a numeric encoding, most likely at bottom of spine, for precise placement that does not rely on fine color ranking.
Set Graphics
Inspired by the spine graphics on anime works. For sets, trilogies, encyclopedias, etc. would be cool to introduce a spine graphic so that when properly arranged in the set, the graphics make a continuous piece. This would help to visually identify sets of books as well as a volumes place in said set.
Production Notes
In order to produce a large set of jackets, one can envision a large scale production. Book dimensions are entered into a program that combines information about the book and prints on a printer capable of perforating the custom sized jackets. An auto-creasing function would also be nice. Another option would be double sided printing wherein the crease marks could be laid out on the reverse.
References
Find original article showing the re-arranged bookstore (I think it was).
