How Instagram Is Influencing Real-Life Design Decisions

Back in the day, businesses would come up with an idea, make it work in the real world and then tailor their social media messages to suit the concept already in existence… but now it seems as though the tables have turned somewhat, and that very idea has been flipped on its head.

According to the Guardian , there’s a new trend for ‘bookstagramming’, which is actually informing the design decisions of book covers to make sure that they’re snapped, papped and shared on social media sites like Instagram and Facebook.

And it’s not as though it’s an industry secret that those in charge of designing these covers are doing their best to hide, either. Designer Rodrigo Corral, for example, used work by photographer Charlie Engman (you may have spotted his photos on the cover of Vogue) for the Faye trilogy by Rachel Cusk.

He had this to say about his designs: “Our jacket art often has social media in mind, as we often create animated gifs, profile icons, and moving images that expand on the book jacket art and are designed to spread across the internet.”

Another designer, Rachel Willey who’s produced covers including Patricia Lockwood’s Priestdaddy and Melissa Broder’s The Pisces, further explained that thanks to social media people are now displaying their books in places other than their personal library at home.

She went on to add that although book covers can’t change the contents held within the pages, they are now often the first impression that people get of the contents of the book itself – and readers see these covers before the book is released, before they even hit bookshop shelves.

The Guardian went on to make mention of the New York Public Library’s Insta Novels project, which actually uses Instagram Stories to provide a platform for some of the world’s most famous books.

Earlier this month, the Library’s Instagram account launched the initiative , with a digitised version of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. They’re also going to be releasing two other books in the coming months – Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper and Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, with the aim being to make these wonderful stories even more widely available to a new and different audience.

Even if you’re not an author, it’s certainly worth thinking about how you can align your offline design decisions with the online world. There’s no getting away from the fact that the internet has a huge part to play in almost every aspect of running a successful business and whether you agree with this or not, if you ignore it you will be doing your brand a serious disservice… which is likely to have an impact on your bottom line at the end of the day.

But if this isn’t your area of expertise, it can be difficult to know where to begin and where to focus your efforts. Which is why you need the help of London content creation team Flourish PR. Get in touch with us today to find out more.