London-based book publisher Visual Editions and Google Creative Lab have joined forces to re-imagine e-books in a project called ‘Editions at Play’, aiming to make them as playful and immersive as possible.

“In our minds, rather than trying to work within the usual e-book constraints, which plenty of people and places already do, Editions at Play will have a URL that transports readers to a digital location or even into the real world (well why not?), or chase you across the internet; we imagine digital literature that has no beginning or no end, or landscapes that can travel in any direction or have any number of characters, plots, side plots and inventions. We like the idea of books that mutate or disappear, that change depending on readers’ circumstance or location, or books that let you uncover material through different kinds of challenges.” – Visual Editions

In the meantime, the evolving logo/ brand for Editions at Play has been released mixing old and new. The logo can only exist digitally, with the letters pared back to their vertical elements resembling binary code (that remain static), the logo is then layered with ‘human expression’, a series of 22 animations that bring the letters back to life. The project is pushing the confined boundaries of branding guidelines, allowing brands to adapt and morph depending on influencing factors.

The sprawling ‘Library of Possibilities’ will be distributed by Google Play books later this year, and I’m sure it will be an refreshing exploration of the future of ebooks.