Week 07: The story of e-books

In this lecture we talked about e-books, how to make them and how to use storyboarding.

For the second deliverable in this module, I plan on producing a narrative website instead of an e-book. However, learning how to create a narrative like book would be very useful for my site.

E-books are a book composed in or converted to a digital format for display on a computer screen or handheld device. Ebooks are non-editable and can be reflowable.

Ebooks come in the formats ePub (one of the most common) the  azw (amazon kindle), and pdf. To create ebook, the most common software is InDesign- usually used to for print but it also allows you to focus on layout.

Focussing on layout means deciding on whether you should use two columns, one columns or using a really high number of columns to create a grid of some sort. When it comes to ebooks you have to think about how the layout will work across 2 pages and the narrative flow that comes with that.

Use a layout grid in InDesign to create a dynamic book design

Two column layout across two pages.

Use a layout grid in InDesign to create a dynamic book design

Six column layout on each page.

We then talked about considering all elements of an ebook and consider how the design will look across 2 pages or on its own and how that flows together. Using colour can help define space and sections of the page. Using bold colours to draw the eye to headings and then more desaturated colours to define sections between headings.  A large amount of space can give focus to the content on the page and add drama.

When creating a story also means to work on pacing and keep the user interested. There should be a clear direction in how to view you content so the user knows where to look next.

We were shown the webpage apple made for their new product the Studio Display as an example of a narrative in a website form. This website was incredible to look at. When you scroll through the page vertically, an animation is created on the screen that moves you through different aspects of the monitor and its specifications with big bright imagery. I think this section maybe goes on for a bit too long and the animation is a bit janky because it only moves when you scroll. I think this feature could be really nice on my website as a way to introduce different sections.


Narrative website update:

This week I will focus on getting layout inspiration and starting to figure out how my narrative website will work.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *