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Harry Potter iBook

Enhanced editions of all seven books in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series are now available exclusively on the iBook Store for readers around the world to enjoy on their iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac. Customers can download individual books featuring full original text, interactive animations and elaborate artwork bringing these beloved stories to life in a unique way. 

Service

Art Direction and Visual Design

Client

Apple

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Digital versions of all seven Harry Potter books are now exclusively available on Apple's iBooks Store. Adding the "enhanced" digital versions of J.K. Rowling's novels feature interactive animations, custom covers, and annotations written by Rowling herself.

For the Muggles

We’ve got some exciting news that might make your world a little more magical. Cringe all you want at that line, but the Harry Potter series is back in an expanded, digitally enhanced edition to rival the Daily Prophet. And GIFs are kind of magic, right? The obsessed-over series is being reissued as interactive e-books, with new illustrations in the hundreds, interactive graphics, and asides that link to notes and essays from author J.K. Rowling on all kinds of things you’ve been wondering about—like the history of the invisibility cloak. What do you mean it wasn’t just made up out of your imagination!? Fiction gets more fictional.

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“Harry Potter fans are going to love how their favorite stories come to life,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s C.E.O., in a press release. Let’s pause for a moment and picture Cook reading Harry Potter on his iPad before bed with a cup of hot butterbeer next to him.

Moment over.

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There is no audio, so for persnickety parents out there worried this is turning reading into movie watching, it’s not, it’s just probably the future of children’s books—no big deal.

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Harry Potter iBook Magic

Within this enhanced edition, the team spent more than 12 month from ideation to deliverable product. Each features a new cover, color illustrations, embedded animations, and new material in the form of annotations by Rowling. Here are out highlighted features that you can explore in the Harry Potter iBook enhanced edition.

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Lightning Letters Design

Every detail was meticulously planned to fit Harry’s world without pulling focus from the text itself, from the custom-designed, lightning-inspired capital letters (in a font called ‘Fluffy’) at the beginning of each chapter, to the detailed depiction of Malfoy Manor. Each element is created with magic in mind, not just convenience – although I can still fit all seven volumes into my handbag.

Feather Annotations by Rowling 

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There’s a feather icon throughout each chapter. Users may click on the feather to view Rowling's annotations and to learn more about the character and the meaning behind the scene. This detail is a subtle, which brings more interactive to the author and really complement the imagination of J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world.

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Harry Potter iBooks Design

Every decision is about the text. We’re always mindful of the narrative tension – sometimes it’s appropriate to allow the reader to take a look around the wizarding world and put an explanatory picture of a Hinkypunk in their peripheral vision.

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The team took time together, out of the office, in a secret space to develop ideas. For the covers, for instance, we started with over 100 different treatments and over the next few months, whittled that down to 11, then three and finally down to one look that we all love.

Poster

Poster Design

Social Media

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Takeaway

Thank you J.K. Rowling for your imagination and your stories that really empower young kids to be brave and always stand for what they believe in. This is a magical and fantastic journey to help design this enhanced Harry Potter editions.    

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