These ain't no books [...]
These ain't no books [...]
[...] but animated substances

These Ain’t No Books (…)

(…) But Projects in Digital and Hybrid Publishing.

Mission

We work at the intersection of design and technology, creating and designing individual digital and hybrid publishing workflows.

Take a set of encyclopedias and ask, “How do I make this digital?” You get a Microsoft Encarta CD. Take the philosophy of encyclopedia-making and ask, “How does
digital change our engagement with this?” You get Wikipedia.

Post-Artifact Books and Publishing – Digital’s effect on how we produce, distribute and consume content.

“Most people are talking about a 1:1 text transfer to digital. Much more interesting is the question: What lies beyond that border? How do new ways of books look like? How can they be displayed on digital devices?

Leander Wattig

Design

The development of an individual, characteristic visual language for every publishing project is the main goal in our process.

By experimenting, using tools differently and connecting lose ends in a new way, we try to find our own methods and workflows.

Technology

Programming and designing at the same time allows us to take advantage of the current technological possibilities, thus coming up with unique solutions.

 

“I don’t know…
Programming and
designing is
the same thing…”

Erik van Blokland

“We live in a
technical reality.”

Mercedes Bunz

“How exactly does the technology we use to read change the way we read?”

Ferris Jabr

About

“These ain’t no books (…)” is a project by Johnson / Kingston, emerging from the engagement with the future of the book and reading on screens.

 

Technological progress has a big impact on society – it is our duty to take part in shaping these changes.