simple 'It's a Book' by Lane Smith

As you can see scrolling back through the archives of this blog we are currently looking into the process of producing ebooks. One of the sayings that keeps popping up 'the book is dead'. What rubbish has always been my reaction to this statement - and now I've found the perfect children's picture book to support that.
The production values of this book make it worth purchasing all on their own (whoops, actually I've already have brought a copy, but don't tell Trisha). The story is just gorgeous about an older teacher/father figure trying to read with a young dude in the room. The great statements start with "What do you have there? and carry on to ... "How do you scroll down? Do you blog with it? Where's your mouse? Can you text?"
I'm not the best book reviewer but I'd really recommend either purchasing this or getting it out of the library. Although I'm sure those of us in the older generation will be more of a kick out of it than the kids.

Dame Christine Cole Catley

I've just had the most amazing time listening to this audio that I really wanted to share it.

http://static.radionz.net.nz/assets/audio_item/0016/2410801/ntn-20100922-1007-Feature_Guest_Christine_Cole_Catley_-_publisher-m048.asx

Dame Christine Cole Catley was interviewed by Kathryn Ryan this morning on National Radio about her autobiography. It's a trilogy which I think is just awesome in itself and after listening to the interview I can totally see why. It's almost a shame that it's not an audio book as I think I could listen to her stories forever.

I have found my new hero and when I grow up I'd like to have had just as an interesting life. Can't wait to read the books.

A million things to be greatful for...

I just wanted to write this little message to express how grateful I am that my family and friends are all safe. I wasn't in Christchurch when the big 7.1 earthquake hit which is pretty lucky but I have felt 100s of aftershocks. It is very sad seeing my home town so lifeless but we are so lucky to survive and carry on after this disaster.

So many businesses are down at the moment... I am so grateful to have such an awesome work place, that allows us work as a team from the comfort and safety of our own homes. :)

Lunch

The girls all came back for lunch yesterday (as that's one of the things we do really well around here) and saw that the office is still intact. After a glass of wine and a few stories shared we all agreed that working from home was just the best at the moment as everyone's heads are a bit scrambled and it means you only have to concentrate on one thing at a time.
But after good food and a glass of wine a phone call sent us all hurrying away as the rumor began that the petrol supply maybe limited. Just a rumor as it turned out, but it was one of those ones that you'd rather be safe than sorry with, so we all raced away to fill up.
Looking back on this today, just seems to show how on edge we all are. Everyone walked in with strained looks on their faces, but with a bit of a giggle, a chat and good company, it made all the  difference.
A sad story has come in on the email though, that I thought you may like to know about. Peter Bray who left us earlier this year has lost his house (their first home in which they have been in for less than a year). Here's his email:

Hi Kim,

I've just read your blog, and it's great to see everyone is okay. Have
you suffered much damage at home?

Amy and I have not fared well. Our street was badly effected, and the
house has suffered a lot of damage.
We believe it will be condemned. There was lots of liquifaction, the
house has slumped and the foundations are all smashed.
The front of the house went one way and the kitchen the other, opening
a big crack across the kitchen floor. Under the house if completely
flooded.

We've pack everything into storage and are staying with Amy's parents
until we know more.

Peter

If anyone would like to send him a message of support he may appreciate it even if he doesn't get back to you straight away. Peter's email is pmlbray@gmail.com

I just have to end with a wee wahoo - it's so good that the aftershocks are settling down a bit! Life is getting back to normal!

Rockin and rolling

I’ve been trying to write this all day and just keep putting it off. Sorry to all you wonderful people who have sent us such lovely messages. We’re all safe and everyone’s homes are intact with only minor damage.
Maria was in Auckland when the big one struck. I don’t know if that was any easier for her though as her mother was here going through it all alone.
Anita was away as well in Hanmer Springs and didn’t even wake up for the major event. But no major damage at her house, only a mysterious dent in her car from a stored oil heater in the garage.
Sarah lives the closest to town and it must have been really scary. Hopefully she still wants to stay in Christchurch.
Trisha was here and apart from being a bit scared has only had minor breakages. Her husband may sustain more damage though as he’s had to leave town on work tonight and she’s not happy.
Here in the Valley we’re all fine. My biggest problem was that Cory my 16 year old wasn’t home when the first big quake struck and I patiently sat at home until dawn waiting for it to be light enough to safely go and get him (he was only in Halswell 5 mins away), but when I left here I really did wonder if I was doing the right thing. There were power lines down and the road was a mess. Very scary. Here’s some photos of the roads from around here that we use everyday with thanks to Maria's great photography skills.
Power and water are our main issues. The power came back on Monday morning after 2.5 days. We coped fine as we’ve got all the gas camping gear, but it’s not fun getting after shocks in the dark with no lights to turn on. We really are over it and ready to move on.
That’s the next big issue. We are all ready to get back to being as normal as possible.
It’s just the best to see an email coming in with a call to action. With no water coming on to the property it’s not practical for everyone to be working from here so everyone has their work stations at home and we’re fully operational again. Emails and phones and couriers are all operating as normal.
Deadlines are great as you can see that you have a goal to achieve and you can contribute by doing what you do well at. Life. It’s all part of being normal and not afraid or scared.
Thanks everyone for all your support and for keeping things rolling along. We’re here, ready and able and looking forward to getting on with it. Just keep the work rolling in.

The good news is the aftershocks have been a lot less today, although they do like to come back at night time.

I'm back!

I have recently got back from summery Chicago. I had a really good time but have missed the great team here at Book Design!

I got a really warm welcome back although they are very jealous of my tan ;p

Here are a few photos from my trip ...

View of the Chicago skyline.

View from my apartment on the 29th floor.

View from 104th floor at the Willis Tower (tallest building in Chicago).

A beautiful sunrise..

I was lucky enough to see the Transformers 3 set..

Designing ebooks

I've had the travel bug recently, Auckland, Melbourne, Wellington all within the last four weeks. It was great putting names to faces and catching up with people. Some of the most interesting meetings I had were with multimedia and ebook developers.

I learnt that we're progressing nicely down the right tracks. The multimedia products we are currently producing have given us a nice insight into understanding code and designing navigation. Our thoughts on working smarter with our printed products are right on track with creating clean and consistent style sheets for the printed books we're producing today, which will more than likely be converted into tomorrow's ebooks.

The goal is to create pdf files that can easily be converted into XML as cleanly as possible so publishers are not paying extra costs to have a developer clean up code. Even if it's a digital product it still needs design. Infact I learnt that design is even more important than ever!

Question is though, 'how do we as designers charge for this'. A publisher will still be getting a pdf file in which they can mass produce their product and sell to either the print or the digital market. Do publishers want us to supply a completed ebook product e.g. explore having a developer on our team?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this ...