I was not happy. I proposed to Wiley a cover showing a bust of Michelangelo's David wearing a Plantronics bluetooth headset to contrast the old and the new.
Instead they sent me a printed circuit board that resembled a tree. No David. The camphor, oak and the palm trees at home all went yeah! The orange trees were quiet. Ok, some tech association, but the tree looked too barren. My wife said how about you color the fruits in the shades of the word Polymath, so the word represents roots which nurture those fruits?
Wiley liked the idea but came back with a few colored fruits. Our orange trees in blossom then – it was February - chimed in “Shouldn’t innovation be represented by bounty? It still looks barren”
So Wiley added more colored fruits. And the Benioff foreword black band at the bottom. And used the Polymath colors in the back endorsements (and moved the other nice endorsements to the front of the book) and the flaps.
The result: a thing of cheer and inspiration! Just right for a book on innovation.
Whatever you may think of the contents of the book, compliment Andy Wheeler, Brandon Dust, Dave Riedy and Ruth Acosta at Wiley for the cover design.
And my wife and all the trees at home.
As for David – oh, I worked him into the book. Something about Michelangelo re-interpreting him in Cris Orfescu’s nanoart. And Plantronics is a case study in the book. I am glad everyone’s happy – maybe now the camphor tree will be a litle less "innovative" and not shed as much next spring :)
click image to enlarge and if you still find yourself squinting, open below PDF
The bluetooth cover would have been awesome. Perhaps a few more techie devices.
Posted by: Anshu | May 07, 2010 at 07:46 AM