Making ebooks ebook-smart. Pun intended.
Agency: N/A. Role: co-Creator.The digital book concept.
Are ebooks smart? In ’14, Ana Martín, Darío Busto and I thought that the digital experience of ebooks needed some fresh thinking. Oddly enough, there’s still nothing out there that matches what this concept could do.
A place for all things books.
We love to buy, read, and talk about books. Why don’t we put it all together? After all, that’s the bread and butter for coffee and books shops.
Search smart and you’ll only search once.
The AI-powered search engines in e-commerce are really helpful, but still outsmarted by old-school book sellers. Ask both about that “Macondo” novel. Let’s see who helps you better.
If, besides title and author, we index the full content of each book, you’ll have more options for what you’re looking for or discover new ones based on your favorite city, character, or subject.
Buying a digital book in the 21st century.
Let’s take a look at all the different buying options that could crank up the reading experience of a digital book.
Oh, so special edition.
We already have special editions of movies, albums, and videogames. Why can’t we have a digital book with additional content? Writer’s comments, handpicked songs for reading it, or even a guide with the landmarks of the story could be worth an extra buck.
Synced languages & audiobooks.
Books are one of the best ways to learn a language. If you can add more languages and switch them while you’re reading, that’s good for the seller, and bueno for you.
User profile.
Not the most revolutionary feature here, but it makes sense. Get in touch with your friends, meet more through your book matches, and share your books like you’d do in real life.
Sharing is caring.
When you share a Penguin digital book, your friend can read it for a limited period of time. It’s not like we’re giving away our books for free. We’re just giving a time-based sample.
Judging an ebook by its cover.
Remember the first media websites? Google does. It looked like a scanned, shitty copy of the print version. That’s the same feeling with ebook covers. They’re just not designed for digital screens. This is how we’d do it.
CMYK is for printers.
Penguin Books has a color for each genre. Without the costs and restrictions that come with printing, we could expand the palette.
Communicating something else.
A digital cover needs to solve more problems through design. As you can’t hold the book in your hands to know how thick or thin it is, we can design a frame that gives you a hint.
Responsive ain’t the standard yet.
If you can read ebooks on multiple screens and layouts, the cover should adapt nicely to each one. The same is true for thumbnails: the title and author should be legible on any display.
Reading experience, enhanced.
If you’re reading a book on a 1K$ gadget, you should expect something else than the standard features of e-ink readers with so-tiny-they’re-adorable chips. These features could raise some eyebrows.
Tailor made typefaces.
Letters talk. And sing, and shout, and travel to another century. How about preserving the identity of the story by picking typefaces suited for each book?
All your languages, at a tap.
If you can read a novel in four different languages, good for you. With this feature, you could easily toggle between all the language versions you’ve bought while staying on the same page.
Refresh your memory.
When you can’t just find the time to keep up with that oh-so-good but oh-so-time-consuming book, it’s normal to forget who did what. What if you could view a character card with a brief description and all the times it’s been mentioned just by tapping on its name?
Smart dictionary.
For those phrasal verbs and complex expressions in foreign languages, a dictionary that finds more than one-word queries may come in handy.
Special edition features.
Digital helps overlaying additional content that truly enhances your reading experience on tablets and phones.
Imagine if you could read The Road with comments by Cormac McCarthy on expandible layers.
Imagine if you’re reading Rayuela while listening to the same jazz song Horacio and La Maga are swaying to.
Imagine if the New York trilogy by Paul Auster sent a route with all its landmarks to your NY Guide app.