Bellos' foreignization article presented thoughtful points on different methods to maintain the readers' awareness that the texts they are reading are rooted in entirely separate languages and cultures. One of his first points detailed a strategy that I have been using myself, which is leaving certain words in the source language to maintain tone. This not only preserves the original and complete meaning of the word, but serves to anchor the translation to the original, especially since the content of my source depends heavily on the culture associated with the original language/country. Bellos mentioned that some techniques can seem odd in practice, but I personally have no problem with something sounding eccentric in a translation, and I feel that it can add interest, providing roots for the reader without metaphorically breaking the spell of the story.
I personally didn't find the Lahiri book all that engaging; for me, book covers are more interesting from a design perspective. I will say, somewhat ironically, that I don't particularly love the cover for this book, and although that would not dissuade me from it if the book had a good reputation in terms of content, it would add to it. In this respect I feel book covers can only add, not so much take away from, their book. Covers also matter even less to me in an academic setting, and I would pay more attention to the cover of a book I was reading for personal reasons.
The Chip Kidd video may possibly be my favorite TED talk ever. This was an incredibly fun and engaging watch, and like I said I'm personally very interested in design/typography so I loved how he laid out his process for each example.
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