October 6, 2021
A book concept I though of after getting disconcerting image search results. The format works nicely for artists and writers alike who have a knack creating humorous and/or contemplative compositions off abstract visual input.
Invention idea #03150.1 pulled from my notebooks to share.
Build it for fun & profit.
Explore the interactive blueprint.
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OVERVIEW OF THE CONCEPT:
This idea might be interesting to those who like word association games. It’s really the same thing, except you use images as input. You might try it on a few searches to see if you have the “knack” to build this product. Though I initially visualized this as a humorous work (and you certainly can cultivate it that way), you could use it on a more serious note to comment on the state of humanity. More philosophical. If the first one is successful, I can easily see a series with focused content in different genres.
Self-Publishing:
I’d consider self-publishing the book since it’s inexpensive and fast. I don’t have direct experience doing this at the moment; however, I am currently in the process of doing so and have researched it extensively. Currently my favorite options are Amazon or Lulu. Give me another 2-3 weeks and I may have more details to share on my experience and quality.
Design Notes:
1. Cover:
2. Searches:
- I’d use images as the subject matter to your artwork/composition.
- Don’t show image results in book since nearly all of it is copyrighted.
- Use advanced search operators to cultivate the results as desired. This could be to get rid of images or hone the content to what you are trying to convey.
3. Warning Indicator:
- Pick a theme and make it fun. EG: Number of stiff drinks required to forget contents (draw little shot glasses).
- If you need ideas for themes try street signs, industrial warning/caution signs, DEF CON levels. Here’s a source for public domain content.
4. QR Code:
- Having a link to the search results seems like a good idea since the reader may be curious. A QR Code seems to be the easiest to use.
- There are free QR Code generators on the web. You’ll usually have to pay a little if you want high-resolution versions, which you do.
- Add a disclaimer near the QR Code that the results will change over time, since it will.
- If you want to go bananas, have the QR code link to your site which is a page that pulls up the image search you’re referring to. This lets you (1) Cache images so they see exactly what you saw (perhaps), (2) Offer branding and promotions of your book, and (3) you could sell ad space if book becomes popular.
5. Icons:
- I think it’s a good idea to have images on the page, which is a challenge for the non-artist types. So I thought of using generic icons to “roughly” communicate the content of the composition/results. This let’s the reader look over the icons and contemplate what is going on before they read, or go back after reading and make the associations.
- A good example of this is at the beginning of each segment in Love, Death, Robots.
- Check out freesvg.org for public domain icons that you can pull and modify if needed. Or hire someone from Fiverr (or similar). I’ve used inexpensive graphic services from there successfully.
APP/WEBSITE VARIATION:
Technically, it’s possible to make this into some sort of app/website rather than a book.
Draw/write up a search weekly/daily and let people guess the search terms based on the content. Give people points based on number of terms they got correct. Track points and have a leaderboard so people know where they stand. Perhaps give an award/prize to the leader(s) every month. It’s similar to the US game show Jeopardy I suppose.
To make money you can sell ad space, though this won’t make much until the site is popular. My favorite model is to have a subscription model where users pay for special “hint” or “reveal” tokens (free otherwise). For instance:
- Subscription Level 1: Get 3 hint tokens per month. When you post content, you will create one or more hints for the content that a user can use a token to reveal to help them out.
- Subscription Level 2: Get 2 hint tokens per month and 2 term tokens. They can use the term tokens to reveal a term to help them guess.
- So on…
Lot's of possibilities here.
