Comments on: Keep That Hive Mind Buzzing

By: Dan!

Dan! — Wed, 13 May 2009 21:01:45 +0000

I think have a bunch of biodiversitied-goodness everywhere would be a bit too obvious. You might as well put the cliched ascent of man picture. I voted for the one I thought was most dramatic, which is Tiktaalik1. Evolution is a dramatic process, and should be represented at such.

By: insanecarbonbasedlifeform

insanecarbonbasedlifeform — Wed, 13 May 2009 15:55:31 +0000

Might I suggest 4 new rounds of polling?
First one: pick your favorite Whale cover
Second: favorite Tiktaalik cover
Third: favorite Wasp cover
Fourth: favorite of the winners of the previous 3 rounds.

By: Bjørn Østman

Bjørn Østman — Wed, 13 May 2009 03:55:08 +0000

You should have everyone vote again, but this time among the three most popular covers.

By: chezjake

chezjake — Wed, 13 May 2009 02:11:55 +0000

I’ll just mention again that the common element of the top three covers is a single color serif font. I’d love to see the Tiktaalik3 image with a serif font.

By: Matt B

Matt B — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:15:00 +0000

I have to second much of the criticism on the previous post. Both the art and the layout options are several ballparks away from the stunning cover of microcosm. I assume the reason is that textbook publishers have a lower cover design budget than general market publishers? Just my two cents.

By: Anne H

Anne H — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:08:57 +0000

I would guess that many voters chose not simply on the basis of which organism they liked best, but the overall look and feel of the cover. In my opinion, the tiktaalik covers are too dark and difficult to grok; Whale 2 has weird capital letters in a new color that make you think there’s a secret code in play, but there’s not. The orchid pictures are gorgeous but a bookstore browser won’t have any idea what’s going on. So that leaves Whale 1, which cleanly conveys the idea of a strange-yet-familiar animal doing something we understand.

By: Brenda Tucker

Brenda Tucker — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:08:39 +0000

I like the tiktaalik because people don’t know what it is or how to say or spell it. More educational.

By: SteveC

SteveC — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:19:30 +0000

That there are only 2 whale covers to choose from but 3 each of tiktaalik and the wasp may tend to tilt things in the whale’s favor unfairly as the votes for the other two will be split more ways due to preferences in the text color and layout which I suspect will be a bit arbitrary.

For instance, right now, the sum of the votes for the three tiktaalik covers is about the same as the sum of the votes for the two whale covers, but because the tiktaalik votes are split three ways, none of them individually has as many votes as either of the whale covers.

Perhaps there should have been two rounds, one to pick the artwork, and one to pick the design of the text?

Well, maybe you just liked the whale artwork a lot.

By: Jess

Jess — Tue, 12 May 2009 07:49:46 +0000

What audience are you trying to reach – older kids, high school students or faculty who are teaching non-major classes and will require this book for their students? I suspect that part of the disparity in the results that you describe is a result of the graphic design. All 3 photos/drawings seem to be equally appealing to most people (they are all beautiful and relevant) but the different colored letters and somewhat messy lettering brings a visual incoherence as you say and I find them very distracting. The wasp covers are simplest, cleanest and relay the idea that this fascinating, complex material is presented in a simple, harmonious way. And the wasp story is incredibly cool. On the other hand, the marine themes jive better with the title. Perhaps you could ask the graphic designer to clean up the lettering and then present only 2 or 3 choices? Good luck!