Generative Art Book Covers

Print on demand service Faber Finds has started printing their books with covers adorned with algorithmic art. The software behind generating these covers is explained by Karsten Schmidt, part of a design team including Marian Bantjes and Michael C. Place.

The custom software written in Processing, straight Java and PHP works as an internal webservice at Faber which receives new batch orders and then generates complete, print ready PDF files with all copy, branding, spine, ISBN, barcode and optional high-res JPG preview using the book details supplied. Generating a single cover only takes about 1 second, but due to its iterative and semi-random nature can sometime require hundreds of attempts until a “valid” design is created which is judged to be “on brand” by software itself.

(via Kottke)