For those of you who don’t know, making a book is a grueling grueling process. I bled over this thing, cried over it, lost sleep over it, yelled at people over it, and neglected my classes, family and friends for it. And now … it’s a real … tangible thing …. tangibility is a beautiful beautiful thing.

(I WOULD divulge more information about the yearbook, but it becomes available tomorrow, and all details must be kept under wraps. I will write a more involved post at a later date).

Ok, now. Most people think that I would be anti-Kindle . I’m actually a fan of the kindle, even though it contradicts all of the points I’ve made in my previous posts. But here’s the thing…

1. FREE PUBLICATION - This is probably the best feature Kindle has to offer. Authors are able to skip the publication process and upload their books right onto Kindle. All they need to do is to convert their book to html (which is time consuming, but it’s worth it). I’m not sure of the specifics of this feature, but I have a family member who is an author and has taken advantage of this for 10 of his books. I think this is revolutionary, though because the public gets to read writing published by the author themselves, instead to reading the mutilated version of the piece after the editors get through with it, in addition to reading the work that publishers rejected. This is a good thing, because sometimes publishers play it safe and only publish books that are the same cookie cutter plot, just with different characters. It’s very rare that Publishing companies take a chance on a book that is really different. So now, us readers have access to books of all kinds.

2. MULTIPLE BOOKS – Of course, this is the overall concept of the device, but lets dwell on it for a moment. You. Can. Have. Hundreds. Of. Books. With. You. At. One. Time. … Seriously?  That’s amazing! Can we just take a minute to appreciate how  convenient this is?! My back probably wouldn’t be as horrible as it is now if I had this device as a kid. Instead of carrying my Math textbook, my History textbook, English textbook, and my Science textbook home all in my back pack, I could have had this one device that had them ALL on it.

3. ADJUSTMENTS – You can adjust the text sizes and what not. It’s a good feature for those with bad eyes.

4. GREENER – For those people who are on this obsessive “must-be-green”  kick, the kindle obviously is paper free, which probably will save a couple trees a year. But hey, it makes a difference to those trees. Also, since less books will be made, less books will be transported from place to place, which means less gasoline will be used in the transportation of heavy books.

Dude, the Kindle’s great. The design isn’t that sexy, but common’ if they made it a little sleeker, it would be the iPOD of the nerd world.

Well. I’ll tell you …

Without print, funding for magazines will dry up. Magazines will become extinct.  But without magazines … how will the public get their latest “celeb gossip?”  PEREZ HILTON, of course. That’s right -  Everyone will be at the mercy of Perez Hilton to get their fix of celebrity gossip. From there, Perez Hilton will become a common household name! People will begin looking to him for guidance, and BAM! He’ll appear as Sarah Palin’s running mate for the 2012 Presidential Election. After they’re elected (and they WILL be elected), Sarah Palin will ‘coincidentally’ appear in a shocking scandal that Vice President Hilton will blog about. Palin will be impeached, and Vice President Hilton will become President Hilton. It’s at this point where morals will evaporate, gossip will be made a standard class offered in every public school system, and wrinkles will be illegal.

Think about it.

I found this on the 6th Ave subway stop on the L. It was laying amongst a sea of metro cards. As a poor starving art-school student, I occasionally pick up used metro cards and check them. I’ve heard stories of my friends finding used metro cards with 50$ still on them!  So in that sense, I think this Business Card is kind of brilliant.

Call him, ’cause this guy’s got to have some creative-ass beats.

An internet Boyfriend or Girlfriend  Vs.  A real live one – who’s right in front of you. 

Which one would you be more attached to? Obviously the tangible one. People in this world are obsessed with tangibility, but many don’t realize it. 

Look up Blue Moon‘s website. This website features a journal-style book, where you can flip through the pages. It’s spectacular, and do you know why? Because it’s made to look tangible. People like to touch things. People favor familiarity. They become attached to things that they have to use their senses to experience. This website evokes the memory and feeling of holding and reading an actual notebook.

I think people have a negative opinion of print ads because they’re usually not all that appealing. [Not to mention that now everyone one is in this "let's try and be green" craze. "Paper = The enemy"].  Honestly – the majority of print ads are hideous. To use a common (and quite extreme) example:  Can you recall Dr. Zizmor’s subway ads? Of course you can. He’ an exquisite dermatologist - but he’s sure no artist. His ads are chaos; they’re blinding!  Who knows, maybe that’s his personal advertising tactic – burning his name into our retinas. But what I’m trying to say is – that’s print’s reputation! When people think of print, they think Dr. Zizmor or something equally as horrifying.

Alright, I find art history to be as boring as any average person does, but let’s go back in time to the late 1800s – in France. (I promise I have a point). Henri Toulouse Lautrec was a great french illustrator. When The Moulin Rouge opened on the boulevard de Clichy, he created this six foot tall advertisement: 

Moulin Rouge: La Goulue, 1891

 Look at it. It’s gorgeous! You have to admit, this is not usually what people think of when they think of print advertising, but I think it’s one of the best examples. This is a prime example of what print ads should be – Art. I don’t necessarily mean that all ads should be illustrations, but I think they should be treated as a masterpiece; something worthy of being hung on a wall, or at the very least, briefly, admired.

This took me forever.

I don’t know about everyone else, but I like touching things. There’s nothing more satisfying than physically obtaining something that’s finely crafted. Sure, you can look at something on the web, but there’s a certain feeling you get when you can hold something.

Nowadays advertising is most commonly found on the web, or your iphone – what’s happening to print advertising?!

It’s true, print is a dying breed, but I wish it weren’t. I know I seem like I’m stuck in the dark ages – but don’t worry, as a soon-to-be Pratt Graduate majoring in advertising design, I’ve worked on my  share of guerrilla campaigns, viral campaigns, mini-sites, iphone aps, and “e-vites.” With my education, I’ll be able to please any client who prefers “new world advertising.”

But, without print … imagine what we’re going to be missing.