The book that talks back
What does the future hold for the physical book in a post-screen era?
In Wired’s 2016 trend report, Swiss designer Yves Behar describes the limitless potential we have to access information, media and entertainment, free from the restrictions of time and place. Paradoxically, this leaves us chained to the conformity of rectangular screens. We are a species “living and gorging on screens with our heads down in our phones…As people long for meaningful experiences, for interactions, for presence, there will be a shift toward fewer screens.”
What does the future of entertainment, books and media look like in a world not dominated by screens, but a network of physical objects? There have been many great examples of books translated to the digital screen, and in many ways the internet has liberated the story from the confines of the page. We’ve enhanced the ebook, we’ve mobile-optimised short-form content, we’ve brought beautifully designed non-fiction to the web. How could these innovations enabled by the internet be brought back to the physical book, bookshelves or shops?
For the YourFry project last year, Michael Shorter and Jon Rogers created a copy of Stephen Fry’s memoir that could speak to its reader. Invisible under the slipcover of the book, a paper-thin circuit of conductive ink reacts when touched and plays audio clips through a headphone jack embedded in the cover. As conductive ink technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) develops, books of the future could have digital elements added to them, could be connected to the internet, could react to touch and changes in the environment as well as user behaviour. As creative technologist Jon Rogers says in the video above, “the internet doesn’t have to be rectangular”.
Ebury Press, a division of Penguin Random House UK, added to this continuum of experimentation with an interactive physical edition of The Amazing Book Is Not On Fire, by YouTube vloggers and entertainers Dan and Phil. This edition uses conductive ink technology, developed by Novalia, which converts the book’s cover into a touchable interface. A touch of a key point on the book’s cover triggers an audio narration from Dan and Phil’s audiobook. Clarissa Pabi, Digital Marketing Executive at Ebury Publishing, devised an innovative marketing campaign alongside Dan and Phil, and included the use of the conductive ink books as a way to push the boundaries between creativity, technology and book publishing.
As part of the campaign one of the books was incorporated into a page-reveal video and competition co-created with YouTuber Booksandquills.
The concept was to challenge anyone who watched the video to describe an idea they had for the future of books. Ideas from the viewers ranged from the gamification of books to 4D sensory adventures to books where the pages would self-turn so you can eat or lie down while reading.
The video also shows a glimpse of some of the fascinating craftsmanship that went into making the books at Novalia’s studio and their printers in Cambridge. The modern invention of conductive ink meets the ancient art of silk screening, as the liquid ink is printed onto a specially-designed circuit template.
In addition to the books, conductive ink audio posters were created with the cover artwork, complete with their own mini speakers, customisable stickers and battery packs. These were given away in competitions to a few lucky winners across the UK by Waterstones at the end of Dan and Phil’s tour The Amazing Tour Is Not On Fire (produced by Penguin Live and Dan & Phil).
The books aren’t for sale, but the next competition is set to launch in February via Penguin Platform.
The Future
Novalia are a company that specialise in connecting the digital world with the physical. The technology they develop produces magical products like a playable DJ deck built into a record sleeve, or a forest full of music-playing flowers. Novalia’s CEO and founder, Kate Stone, sat down with us to discuss their work and what the future of the ‘digital soul’ could be:
It’s clear that connected objects and the Internet of Things are trends to watch. Mark Zuckerberg’s new year’s resolution in 2015 was to add more books to his ‘media diet’, but this year it is to build an AI system for his home, that will help him look after his daughter and automate things like opening the front door. As publishers and creators continue to experiment, the lines will continue to blur between physical and digital. Projects like Artefacto’s outdoor digital bookshelf could flourish and become more refined. The magical bookshelf that reveals the contents of its books digital, as described in this article by Craig Mod, might one day be commonplace, as a genuinely useful example of digital technology working with the physical.
