No Sudden Move

Designed this just in case Steven Soderbergh needs a new poster for his fab new movie No Sudden Move. Interesting article here about his deliberate use of intense anamorphic lens distortion; a little disorientating to start with, but gives the film a really distinctive look that I borrowed for the type.

Peter Mendelsund

I recently interviewed Peter Mendelsund for Spine magazine; mostly about his fantastic debut novel, Same Same, and the connections between writing and designing. One question I almost didn’t ask, because I thought it was dumb and the answer obvious, would he ever consider letting someone else design the cover for one of his books? He surprised me with an effusive YES.

It’s very, very hard. I made so many covers for this thing. In the end I needed someone else to choose one for me. For my next novel (The Delivery, pubbing in 2020, FSG) I’m going to let someone else do it for me. For the first time. I can’t go through it all again. I have no perspective on the thing. No arm’s length at all.

Questionable moral of the story: ask dumb questions.

iBooks Textbooks

Okay, so Apple's new iBook Textbooks look amazing. Personally speaking, I'm quite excited by the design opportunities iBooks Author will provide. But more broadly speaking, they raise all sorts of tricky questions about the nature of Apple's impact on the education system.

First up: yes, I'm completely in favour of the digitisation of teaching materials. Books that are out of date and crumbling aren't doing anyone any favours (although I wouldn't go so far as Apple's apparent "books are so 16th century" approach), and if done well, digital textbooks have the potential to improve things significantly for teachers and students alike. But the big question is: who's going to provide the iPads?

Surely they'd only work if every student in a class has them. So is the school going to provide the iPads? Or the parents? What if one or the other can't afford them? Despite Apple's education discounts, their hardware is still prohibitively expensive for many. The divide of privilege between pupils, classes, schools, families is only going to be amplified.

The technology looks amazing, I just hope those in charge of education know how to use it.

… oh dear.