Kickstarting Design Book Launches: Three Case Studies

Saturday, October 3
 5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
Free and open to the public
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While the death of books printed on paper has long been forecast, the reality today for design books is that there are still many publishers releasing many titles. Statistics show that during the 3rd quarter of 2015 more than 30,000 art, design, and photography books were introduced.

So while the demise of books isn’t going to happen any time soon, connecting books directly to their audiences has always been, and continues to be, a challenge. This is true today perhaps more than ever with a large number of books competing for attention within an ever expanding range of media.

An alternative marketing strategy that has been showing promise, and in some cases yielding some remarkable successes, is launching books on crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter, Unbound, Indiegogo, and Pubslush. During this program we will look at three different book campaigns that were launched on Kickstarter, talking with the people who managed the projects. The projects and participants will be:

  • The New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual  (reissue) with Jesse Reed, Hamish Smyth, and Alex Daly
  • Helvetica, Objectified, Urbanized: The Complete Interviews with Gary Hustwit
  • The Hermann Zapf Sketchbooks with Jerry Kelly

Moderating the conversation will be Steve Kroeter, Editor-in-Chief of Designers & Books.

Jesse Reed and  Hamish Smyth and Gary Hustwit will sign their books in the exhibition hall after the program. Copies of the reissue of  The New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual and Helvetica, Objectified, Urbanized will be available for sale by the authors in the exhibition hall during the entire run of the Fair.