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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Finster" data-source="post: 3155752" data-attributes="member: 17572">Art in a publication is important for two reasons. First it entices a potential purchase of the product. Second, it helps to convey ideas that would require lengthy explanation (a picture is worth a thousand words). So I would have to answer that it is important to the publication to have good artwork among other factors. The customer in the game store, book store, or comic store may not have the luxury of reading through a book carefully before purchasing. It is up to the easily seen and grasped artwork (maps, illustrations, and even layout) to let the potential buyer know what the book is about before they drop their cash on it. Good art can prompt a purchase, but that is not all that critical to a book's overall evaluation from a reviewer's perspective. But a pretty shelf warmer is still a pretty shelf warmer. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> The importance of art from the consumer's (and by extension the reviewer's) perspective is the utility of the art. Are the maps accurate, do the pictures match up with the text, and is the layout easy to read. These, I think, are important to the product's final evaluation.Outside of both these points lie one other factor that art brings to a product. It's cool! This is a much more difficult quality to quantify, and varies between individuals too greatly to have an impact on more than a small group of people in a meaningful way. But it is still there.People purchase "Coffee Table" books. More often than not, these books are filled with photgraphs of brightly colored things, but I myself have purchased some of the art anthologies from TSR and Wizards. These books have next to zero text, but are still great books to have around. Their utility lies strictly in my enjoyment, and the inspiration I derive from them. YMMV of course.</blockquote>

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