Growth of useful knowledge

[DavidL]

Just paying for some things in my corner shop. A man and a small child are behind me. Child has some sort of package, says, 'They look so good when you see the pictures of them, then when you open them they're really crap.'
Man says, 'You just understood marketing.'

 

[Paul Whybrow]

I've read novels where the cover illustration had little to nothing to do with the story, as if the artist-designer asked "Give me the gist of it," then knocked up an illustration using stock images. One crime novel showing a moody lake on the cover had only a dried-up stagnant pond in the plot, and another about a disappeared child, who may have been kidnapped, or she could have run away, featured a discarded tricycle and teddy on a pathway, neither of which appeared in the story.

Reading the newsletter from the excellent Book Designer website, I understand from what owner Joel Friedlander says, that sometimes designers read the book before creating an illustration, while other times they depend on a brief synopsis.

The best example of a customer taking revenge on false advertising occurs in Falling Down, when Michael Douglas as a rejected and frustrated defense engineer seeks sustenance in Whammy Burger (I won't be doing this in my nearest bookshop or library!):