The importance of book design has been recognized by the public.On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

      The recognition of writers is particularly important. Feng Jicai, a famous writer, holds a high position in book design: “a Book decorator is by no means just for book packaging. They are engaged in an independent and noble art.On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

      The best among them regard the art of binding as sacred, pursue it persistently, recreate it forever, and, like the essence of any serious art: sublimate life with beauty.” Su Tong, a young writer, wrote on the gift book: “creating books together is a perfect match.” On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

       Raise the design to the position of juxtaposing with the manuscript. Works are the “son of spirit” bred by writers and designers. The writer completes his content (soul), and the designer gives him form (face). In order to have a good face for their works, some writers prefer to choose publishing houses with high design grade regardless of their remuneration; On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

      Some writers give up national first-class publishing houses and publish books in local publishing houses; More writers pay a lot of money to hire famous designers. This has almost formed a fashion: On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

      book design has become one of the important symbols of the value of a book and a symbol of the author’s identity.On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

      Publishers also attach great importance to cover design. Large and small book subscription will often become a cover competition, especially for books with similar themes. Many booksellers haven’t seen the content of the book yet, so they decide to order just by looking at the cover. A senior publisher said: “the cover is the lifeline of book distribution.”On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

      Readers’ attention to book design is the most fundamental and important. A reader wrote in the Wenhui reading weekly: “seriously, I have read most of Su Tong’s works. Whether to buy his collection needs to be considered.On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

      But such an excellent and moving binding suddenly caught me and let me dance and enjoy.” It is the love of a large number of aesthetic consumers that improves the value and status of design.On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

      Public opinion circles also pay unprecedented attention to book design. In recent years, newspapers and television have introduced book design art and designers, which has increased significantly compared with the past, and affirmed the value of design in a book. On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

      A newspaper in Jiangsu believes that the collection of Su Tong’s works (Jiangsu literature and Art Edition) won the “national best seller Award” and “has something to do with the binding design of this set of books.” On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

      The words of literary critic Wang Gan may be more intriguing. He said at a meeting that readers now read books, newspapers and magazines, not only look at the content, but also look at the cover illustrations and layout design… Design has become an important object of “cultural consumption”.On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

      The recognition of design value by writers, publishers, readers and public opinion makes us believe that the proposition of book design as the second cultural subject of books can be improved.On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

The essence of “the second cultural subject” is the ontological beauty of book design.On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

      The reason why book design can become a “cultural subject” is that it has an aesthetic value worthy of readers’ appreciation. That is to say, the essence of the “second cultural subject” is the ontological beauty of book design.On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

      The noumenon beauty of design should be divided into two parts: one is the beauty of conception creativity, the other is the beauty of visual creativity. The beauty of conception and creativity comes from the unique understanding and perspective of the manuscript, selects unique images, and expresses the spiritual connotation of the manuscript with ingenious conception. Mr. Lu Xun proposed to the design of his tomb that “the corpse should have nothing to do with the meaning of the grave.” On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

      The title page pattern designed by Mr. has owls and other graphics. The symbolic meaning here is very deep: Lu Xun likes owls and uses the owls hated by “gentlemen” to describe himself. On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

     The design of “grave” does not draw graves but owls, which reflects Lu Xun’s unwillingness to turn the design into simple diagrams, but gives a brand-new, appropriate, ingenious and metaphorical design, which reflects the beauty of design conception and creativity. This is a kind of beauty rich in literary implication.On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

     The noumenon beauty of design is more fully reflected in the beauty of visual creativity. The value of design beauty itself can make it an independent aesthetic object. At the same time, it also strengthens the position of design as the main body of the second culture.On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

      Black and white, designed by Mr. LV Jingren, is not only novel and unique on the cover and back cover, but also distinctive in the text design; Kangaroos jump on each page, with distinctive regional characteristics; The frame composed of black and white patterns is very distinctive. It symbolizes the theme of cultural conflict between indigenous blacks and white colonists in Australia. On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

      The black-and-white pattern frame causes three cuts and also presents black-and-white patterns, which makes the refreshing patterns very appropriate and unified with the connotation of the book, giving people a great visual impact and aesthetic enjoyment. The charm of design beauty makes books more colorful and popular with readers, which fully shows the position of design as the main body of culture.On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

Upgrading book design to the second cultural subject of books is the necessity of artistic development.On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

      Any art is initially attached to practicality. Driven by people’s beauty loving nature, producers and users hope to make it look better. Gradually, they enter a period of more common and conscious pursuit of artistic noumenon beauty, On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

     its aesthetic function becomes stronger and stronger, the proportion of aesthetic value becomes larger and larger, becoming the main body of culture, and some become independent artistic crystals. Examples abound in art history. Like calligraphy.On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

       Originally, it was practical to express meaning, such as the occupation of oracle bone inscriptions, the promotion of ancestors of gold inscriptions, etc. through the evolution and development of generations, calligraphers of all dynasties continued to “add mystery” (i.e. the beauty of calligraphy), and their art appreciation function was paid more and more attention to and became the main body of culture, while the practical meaning function was weakened, and finally formed an independent calligraphy art.On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

       Another example is clothing, which began to weaken the practical function of protecting the body from the cold, while the beauty of design (style, material, color, pattern, etc.) is becoming stronger and stronger, becoming “clothing art”. Up to now, famous brand clothing has become a symbol of identity. Architectural art, furniture art and so on.On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

       The metaphor of art historian Grosse is very interesting, “In the early stage of development, decoration had only a secondary artistic nature. The pleasing form was only attached to the actual important state, just as a tendril of a vine was attached to the trunk of a large branch. On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

     But later, the dense green leaves and flowers of the vine were hidden… At the same time, the secondary decoration gradually lost its original meaning and developed into a pure form of beauty.”On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

       The same is true of book design. At first, the cover was mainly used to protect the book block and identify books, focusing on practicality. Although it also has aesthetics, it is weak and secondary after all. With the development of the times and the improvement of the degree of civilization, after the efforts of many generations of designers,On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design

      its aesthetic function has been expanded and sublimated, while its practical function has weakened, gradually becoming the second cultural subject for readers to enjoy.On The Artistic Skills Of Cover Design