A Review of Printed Book and E-Book Designs Through Graphic Design Principles

Abstract

Book which has been read, written, loved, hated, touched, seen, respected, burned, forbidden, believed, hidden, given as a present, taken up as a hobby but before everything else it is a product that is produced, a commercial asset or an object with artistic value. It can reach the masses and illumunate, teach, foster, change, sometimes convice, pass into other hands again and again, protect the fragile objects with its pages, hide dried flowers within, or arouse curiosity for the better or sometimes the worser. This object exists with the text it carries and is supposed to hide, protect and spread the content. Although it is an object, a well-designed book communicates with the reader. Book grows up with us and gets older but contrary it doesn't die. It is handed down to next generations so becomes more valuable day by day. The book continues its adventure by changing the papyrus from the clay tablets to the codec and then with 20th century technology revolution it changed and developed itself to the e-book. The known book form gives its place to zero and one. In addition to its form, it also changes the reading activity, bringing with it new ways of reading and habits. Along with all these innovations, the use of the book, which mankind has been familiar for centuries, and the newly developed e-book coexistence together have caused some confusion in terms. From the perspective of the graphic designer, the book in whatever form is a graphic design product that must be designed to convey information, feelings or ideas. Like every graphic product, the production of book with considering graphic design principles strengthens the idea and communication. The aim of this paper is to compare printed books and e-books through graphic design principles. In order to give the general message of the book truly which design criteria must be taken care of will be discussed and variety and diversity of these results presented over examples.