“What Would Jason Do?”

The Casual Optimist’s Dan Wagstaff posted a good interview earlier this week with Jason Ramirez, a designer and typography authority at St. Martin’s Press. Among Ramirez’s better-known works are the moody covers of The Talented Mr. Ripley and Ripley’s Game, both by Patricia Highsmith. When asked what the future holds for book design, Ramirez responds:

This is the great unknown. I prefer to believe that the physical book will survive alongside the electronic book. That said, as technology evolves, additional possibilities may be created for book cover design in a digital form. In the long-term perhaps the digital book, both the content and the artwork used to package and identify it, will become multi-dimensional and interactive so that a reader might have the ability to navigate through multiple layers of storytelling. Or maybe I’ve seen one too many Harry Potter movies … I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

You’ll find the full interview here.