We always say to not judge a book by its cover, but when taken literally, the fact that book designers exist at all is proof that it does. In many cases myself, I have been drawn to an interesting book cover which led me to read a book I never would have picked up otherwise. In his TED Talk, Chip Kidd mentions that book designers are somewhat of a translator or interpreter because they have to take the content of a book and its title and transform it into something artistic and captivating. This was an interesting point which I had never thought about but I think actually connects to Nathan's reading last week, where he says that translation should be done by grasping the meaning of a piece and translating the intended meaning rather than the words themselves. Book covers seem to be the purest form of this because there is art and visuals seem to be able to convey something beyond words.
However, one thing that the TED Talk made me wonder was how the cover and the meaning changes when it switches from hardcover to paperback. Some covers can be transformed without loss but it seems that some covers such as the Naked cover that Chip Kidd showed seems to rely on the sleeve, and that aspect is crucial to the design. Another phenomenon that may impact book design in Japan is that when people are reading books, especially in public, they often cover the book covers with brown paper given to them by the bookstore. Presumably the reasoning is that others don't know what book is being read, especially if it's something embarrassing or personal, but after seeing the thought and effort that goes into book design, it seems like a shame to have so many covered up.
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