Designed Literature (Part Two)

(Continued from Part One)

At the convergence of these typographical trends, modern software lets an author design his own text. Certainly, writers have not absorbed all aspects of typography, and the actual crafting of fonts is still reserved for typographers. But page layout, typeface, proportions and color have all been left to the public by Adobe Suites and freeware.

The world of words is going the way of the music industry. An author can now self-publish by drafting in InDesign, exporting to .azm, and posting a file to Amazon for sale. Today, many authors self-publish, letting readers pay what they think the book is worth. (Additionally, if the bibliophile requires it, an ebook file can be printed for an upcharge by any number of sites that offer Print On-Demand services.)

This phenomena is certainly an economic boon for mainstream authors, but it carries with it the history of avant-garde self-publishing. Most art books of the last century were self-published, and even giants like Joyce personally printed their early works.

So, all this is unexciting. Digital self-publishing is a more convenient incarnation of past practice; nothing new. Certainly, this seems an adequate survey of the present.

But true art is created with the future in mind. So, in pursuit of relevance, I will mention some of the places I see literature meeting design in new ways.