Resource

Website Resource: The Future of Books and Storytelling

http://craigmod.com/

Craig Mod is a MacDowell Writing Fellow, 2011 TechFellow, and Advisor for the Yale Publishing Course. 

Website Design and Ease of Navigation: 

@Craigmod.com is an elegant space.  It offers a template for self-publishing a Kindle book, instructions for building a book with HTML, the usual “About/Speaking/Essays,” and a section relating to “Pre/Post Publishing.”  In addition, Mr. Mod maintains the site in a fluid way, so that the information is always fresh and reflects current projects.  Laid out in one column, centered, with a continuous scroll, the user has access to articles, journal entries, photos of events, and videos of speeches.  The links are straight forward and interesting.  That is, each link is represented by a thoughtful photo that cleverly illustrates the content.  For me, these features illustrate his expertise in design and showcase his creativity.  The only shortcoming I see with the website is that the links don’t open in separate windows, and he’s done away with the section, “Other Designers You Should Know.”

Response and Recommendation for Use:

Perhaps because of my love of the written word, and my BA in English, I’m inspired every time I visit Craig Mod’s web site.  I first ran across his web site in 2009, when I read “Post-Artifact Books and Publishing.” He focuses on the physical and electronic shapes that books take, the relationships between those two forms, and how the forms impact the writer and the reader.  In addition, he is a doer.  I followed his successful Kickstarter project (Art Space Tokyo) in order to understand that process, and I share his philosophy about books as systems, platforms for knowledge and the evolution of exchanging ideas.

I use the site in my English 4 classes to illustrate how art and technology combine and enhance the presentation of the written word.  I use it to inspire and  encourage my students to think in terms of images when they write.  Furthermore, it is a place students can visit and be encouraged by a young man who is actively engaged in changing the way people think about books as static artifacts.