Monitor: Read

Touch It, Feel It

It's hard not to judge a book by its cover when the cover itself is a mutating design element, as found on the "Photo Graphics Issue" of IdN magazine (v9n2, www.idnworld.com, $12) and Soon: Brands of Tomorrow (Fivedegreesbelowzero, $35). The phosphorescent cover of the Asian Pacific digital design magazine reacts to the flash of a camera and becomes "exposed." Designed by Michael C. Place, the textured cover is the embodiment of the issue's theme on the critical role the camera plays in design. Also covered in this issue are interviews with Araki Nobuyoshi, the accomplished Japanese photographer, and cinematic art director Chang Suk Ping. Similarly, the hardbound Soon posits that "a brand is nothing wanting to be everything" and features a heat-sensitive cover which spells out the book's title when friction is applied. Leading design and advertising creatives were asked to imagine products and branding of the future, of the tangible sort (DNA-encrusted cereal) and the more abstract variety (the ocean, the air, the senses) -- no doubt a touchy subject.