Around the Word with Web Talent
My first book didn’t sell very well but it had an effect on people’s hearts. Web designers around the world circulated a single copy of Taking Your Talent to the Web, adding their autographs, drawings, photos, and other verbal and visual messages to every page—even the covers and spine.
While unpacking from the office move, I found this special world-traveled copy of the book and snapped a few pages at random. Some people who signed this book went on to do amazing things on the web. Others lowered their profiles but continued to do work of quality and significance. Still others simply disappeared. (At least they disappeared from the worldwide web design community.) I love every one of them. Thank you all again.
A photo spread on Flickr Around the Word with Web Talent.
Tags: webdesign, community, talent, takingyourtalenttotheweb, newriders, publishing, book, books, zeldman, writing, dreamless
Filed under: Blogroll, Community, Design, Ideas, Web Design, Zeldman, art, art direction, books, content, creativity, experience, industry, people, work, writing
From the thumbnails, this looks really interesting. I don’t mean to be rude, but I wish the photos weren’t so blurry so I could see the detail of the artwork. Regardless, that’s one beautiful time-capsule of a gift.
Mr. Zeldman, as we discussed when I sat next to you at An Event Apart Boston 2007, I’d love to help you find a way to bring this valuable book back into print.
If another print run isn’t possible, what about making the content available for free online? The info is too good to just be locked away forever where no one can get access to it.
Dale has a great idea; I bet Happy Cog could create a super sweet site for that. I’ve always liked the parallel ideas of the analogue to digital transition. The book in a way is talking about the relevance of analogue and that’s something we need more writing about on the web. We need analogue — it’s human! Analogue input makes digital more interesting, whether that’s taking your talent, or finding inspiration from analogue sources.
Thanks, Dale and Dave. As a matter of fact, I’m getting back the rights to the book and plan to make it available as a download.
I really like what Trent Reznor is doing with his material.
Nostalgia!
I remember the story of this copy of the book travelling around the world.
I was reading my (precious for me) copy at that time, many months later I came across the Italian translation, sporting one of the alternate cover layouts (by Segura I think…)
I don’t believe the publishers of the Italian translation were authorized to use that Segura cover. Segura was upset about it, and rightfully so.
I have a copy of the book! Will you sign it the next time I see you (AEA Boston ‘09?)?
I still have a copy of it. I bought it a long time ago, at the same time as “Usability: the site speaks for itself” (edited by Molly, remember?) and it’s still as inspirational as Jeff Veen’s Art and Science.
Some concepts have become a bit out of date, but many notions still hold true (paper vs. web, etc).
Thanks for this book. I still love the cover.
(is it just me, or do some other people have hallucinations on exhausted days, and marvel at how thin the pixels are in the real world?) ;)
Yes, the cover design was “similar” to Segura’s design.
Bad thing.
You’re the one who bought it! :D
I will be thrilled to sign it. :)
I have mistaken traffic lights at night for animated GIFs, so it’s not just you.
I have the other copy. Neglected to get it signed by the author but did get it signed by the publisher :)
[...] המעצב ג’פרי זלדמן מצא בין חפציו עותק מספרו הראשון, Taking Your Talent to the Web, שעבר בין [...]
WOW! I am surprised to hear Taking Your Talent to the Web didn’t sell well. It’s an original offering and I — not a Web designer — enjoyed reading it. In fact, I still have the picture I took of me reading the book when Zeldman was collecting pictures of people reading the book.
I turned the book sideways (like reading porn) and made a face in shock. All thanks to Zeldman’s inspiration. This book is a gem and if I remember right — it doesn’t have a lot of details that would make it go out of date.
It’s a a book that set foundations for me and everyone who would learn (and teach) web design: it does need to be available again. Thanks Jeff
Hey Jeff,
Great idea, sending it around the world. That does make for a good bit of nostalgia.
The one thing I noticed right off is the *quality* of the signatures that you don’t just get from the average person. Nobody has penmanship like graphic designers — really adds to the overall design of the book!
I think you should take Dale’s first idea though — why give it away as a download if you can sell it? If it’s dated (I haven’t read the book) why not add to it and make it a new edition?
The web is cheapening great content as it is. We might as well mine for gold where we can!
~Graham
Hmm.
Hmmmmm….
co-sign
If this is possible, if you want i do an accessible PDF.
Livio Mondini
Good idea to make it in PDF. The new way