Nowadays a publisher who would like to publish content has a wide range of platforms to choose from. In fact not choosing a platform and formatting content so that it can freely travel from one platform to the other has already become the preferred option. The formats of e-book distribution offer some new advantages also to the reader but they are not as exciting for the editorial designer.
The editorial designer, while designing a page, actually designs a specific reading experience. If the page is fluid, ever changing, and customizable by the reader that specificity is lost, mostly even not there to begin with. Books as apps offer a better playground. However their future is harder to foresee.
The printed book has a history of more than 500 years. Whereas the electronic book has just been born. As designers, we may not play the leading role in shaping the tools with which publications are produced, distributed and experienced but we can still play an active role by being critical.
Image source: libros.soybits.com
