“What research sometimes misses is the proper dissemination of the results. How do studies connect back to society, and what is the urgency? It’s essential to bring the knowledge back to the public.”

Niels Schrader, Co-Head Graphic Design Department Royal Academy of Art Den Haag and founder of Studio Mind Design, Interview January 2019

In this pre-research, we examined 4 pillars of the publishing process – the content, the design, the technology and the market. Our goal was to see what each sector needed in order to create a fully digital output for what is today concidered book content.

To sum the pre-research up, three main challenges arise:

1. An unknown product.
There are several technological options for creating digital content, but not for books’ types so far. The next phase will focus on defining the content, design and technical guidelines for the new content containers.

For that, we would conduct further practical research. The research will set up a complete digital workflow for a fully digital outcome.

2. A selling Platform
Our pre-research suggests that the new selling method of the content can benefit from a shared selling platform, similar to other digital content.

In the next phase, we would set up a purely digital reading content library. This library will include the pilot-projects and will be a test on its own.

3. Initiating a market.
Following on our research, we would like to create several actions for starting the new market:

  • Create a public event for the publishing industry including writers, designers, technology companies and marketing managers, to discuss and promote the possibilities for the new digital reading experience.
  • Develop and deliver presentations for the relevant audience – design schools, publishers’ conferences etc.
  • Develop and deliver workshops for designers, offering them guided experimental practice with the new digital reading experience.
  • Publish articles on this topic in the publishing community’s circles.

We would like to thank everyone who took part in our research and looking forward to the next phase.

You could follow our updating story and extra content from our research on www.gutenberg3.org and on instagram @gutenberg3rd


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