Can more graphically rich books make them less obsolete?

The Electric Information Age Book by Jeffrey T. Schnapp and Adam Michaels explores a time in publishing, between the mid-60’s and mid-70’s, known as the electric information age. During this time, mediums such as television and radio were taking over and the concept of books was becoming obsolete. As a result, young designers and editors, such as Steven Heller, started exploring ways of merging this new electric information age into books by making texts more visual and ‘graphic rich’. The book is a detailed account of all these different tools book designers used at the time to make them look more visual interesting, such the use of typographic hierarchy, graphics and photography.

The book itself is also an example of ‘photographic-textual conversation’, and while these innovative implements make the text more visually interesting, does it really change the message sent? It makes it easier to read and more fun to read, but does this aspect of a graphically rich medium really make books less obsolete? Isn’t the reason why books are becoming more and more scarce because other mediums such as laptops and tablets provide a more interactive experience? While these tools like variation in type, alignment, colour and graphic definitely help attract a wider audience; they probably target readers with design backgrounds, rather than your average paperback novel reader. 


- Shanila Daswani