A Little Obsessed
November 13, 2007
Or, How Chip Kidd has changed my life.
While I have you, I’m holding my first ever blog contest! It’s at the end of this post, so read this lovingly crafted missive, or just click here to find out how to enter and win a copy of this book for yourself.
Anyone who knows me in real life knows that I’ve been reading Chip Kidd’s Book One. They know this because I can’t stop talking about it. It’s that amazingly good, and it’s changing the way I think about graphic design and about my career in design.
Book One is crazy. The cover is half hardcover, half paperback, and not in the way you’re probably thinking.
Remember in high school study hall, when you wanted to read something that wasn’t your homework and you slickly sandwiched your preferred reading material into the outer casing of your biology textbook and no one ever knew? This book is like that, except the sneaky inside is twice the size of the outer cover. And everyone knows.
Inside it’s jam packed with covers, published and not, discarded ideas, letters from editors, writers, and artists, old projects, sketches, photos, source material, text by Mr. Kidd (who is not that much older than I am, but really, I feel weird calling him Chip. It’s like my brother used to always say, “Chip. Like you know him.“) and more. Much, much more. I’m a good, careful reader (former English major) and I didn’t come close to seeing all that’s in there the first time around.
If there are graphic design gods, Chip Kidd is one. He’s been credited with changing the face of book publishing (pun intended). And I fully expected to be blown away by the beauty and craftsmanship of his work.
And I wasn’t.
It’s not all beautiful. It’s not all precious typefaces and white space and careful color combinations. And reading it, I realized that that’s what I’ve been thinking graphic design is for the last I don’t know how long. Prettying it up. Making it look nice. Putting this font with that picture and classing up the layout.
This collection of covers is thought provoking, sometimes disturbing, often pretty, but sometimes fully unattractive. It’s full of quirks and tricks, and it makes you look and wonder what’s inside. Mr. Kidd reads the books he designs for, thinks about them, and tries to distill their essence in the limited space of the covers and spine (and sometimes interiors). It’s thoughtful design and it’s what I wanted to do when I decided that graphic design was the career path for me. Somewhere along the way, I’ve gotten sidetracked.
Of course, book cover design for literary fiction is its own breed of design work. It offers opportunities that you just don’t find designing a brochure for a septic system installer (true story). But what I was captivated by in reading this book was the sense that here were designs that meant something.
I didn’t get that feeling from the author narrative (or at least, not too much). The first to poke fun at himself and the ways that design can get ridiculously self important, Mr. Kidd comes across as less Boy-Genius-Realized and more Can-You-Believe-They-Pay-Me-for-This? The author letters range from the hilarious to the moving. Having worked in the book publishing world, I know it’s rare that an author is thrilled by the design of his book. The way it looks all too often doesn’t match, or measure up to, what’s in the author’s head. I can imagine that as a writer, having your ideas captured in a design that feels like the perfect fit would be a thrilling experience. And most of the author letters in Book One say that, in one writerly turn of phrase or another.
I think everyone should read this book. So here’s where the contest comes in. I’m giving away one brand new copy of Book One (what? You didn’t think I’d give my copy away?) All you have to do to enter is leave a comment here. If your comment includes the title of a book that’s inspired you, either through its content or its design, I’ll enter you twice. I’m going to give it a week, then pull a name from a hat (literally). The winner gets Book One.
A note: I know that I have some international readers. If I can ship to you, you’re eligible to win.
Hi! Since I can just borrow/look at yours, I don’t know that I should enter, but this book sounds like a really interesting read. And for what it’s worth, everything you’ve designed that I’ve seen was always perfectly suited to whatever the venue was that you were designing for. Came across the wedding invites you did for us while cleaning up the other day, and admired them all over again (Even though I made you use Papyrus. Thank you for letting me be a Bridezilla!).
Uh, anyway (who’s procrastinating?) let’s see, a book that inspires me… Since I’m thinking about foods for the holiday, I’m going to go with one of my German Dr. Oetker cookbooks (I can’t find a link to the ones I have online). They’re not perfect, and in fact I find the recipe layout confusing, although I suspect it’s a cultural thing. But I LOVE the font, and their food photos are lick-the-page gorgeous, really, the nicest in my collection of cookbooks.
Comment by elizasmom — November 14, 2007 @ 12:16 pm
Thanks for the compliment, EM. I was thrilled that you let me design your wedding invites, and I’m so pleased that you’re still happy with them. In your defense, this was over 5 years ago, and Papyrus wasn’t nearly as over exposed then as it is now.
Can’t wait to get my hands on your cookbook…
Comment by Leslie Tane Design — November 14, 2007 @ 5:28 pm
I couldn’t agree with you more. I also have a copy of the book. Though my full time job does not include book covers anymore, I still get a freelance gig once in a while. I have numerous books on book cover and interior design (I really enjoyed my time in the publishing world).
But my experience in designing covers (all non-fiction), the manuscript is not finished yet. I work off of marketing copy (gasp!) TOC, maybe a chapter. We don’t even have the back cover copy ready at the time you design the front cover (to go into the catalog for pre-sales). Yup it is hard to please the author and publisher with such little information. Mr. Kidd has a blessing in working with fiction, most publishers do not buy the manuscript until the story is finished and going through edits (unless it is a well-known author - they might buy on spec).
Any favorites from the book?
Comment by Donna — November 14, 2007 @ 6:24 pm
Thanks for the heads up on the book. It sounds so interesting that I hope I win it. Your commentary is so entertaining and educational — I love it! I’m new to design but I’m learning so much from you. Thanks for all your interesting notes and your provocative commentary.
Comment by quegirl — November 14, 2007 @ 8:51 pm
Wow, thanks quegirl.
It looks like your chances are pretty good for the book…
Comment by Leslie Tane Design — November 15, 2007 @ 9:24 am
I’ve seen this book at your house, and it is really interesting, and provocative. I’d be looking at it from such a different perspective, but I would likely become equally obsessed.
Comment by Julia — November 16, 2007 @ 6:37 pm
I would say a book that really made me want to be a designer was Jeff Fisher’s “The Savvy Designer’s Guide to Success.” There’s nothing beautiful or amazing about the way it looks, but I read it when I was just thinking about whether graphic design was for me and just learning the ins and outs of the business gave me enough confidence to go for it! Plus he gave great resources for education.
Comment by Jessica — November 16, 2007 @ 7:43 pm
[...] I was EIGHT!” card.) I should alert anyone with a passing interest in design that my friend LT is having a contest and is giving away a cool design book on her site. Go visit, say [...]
Pingback by elizasmom.com » NaBloPoMo 2.16 — November 16, 2007 @ 10:32 pm
Hi Donna,
I was wondering about that. In my experience designing books, unless it was a re-release, we usually had to design the cover for marketing materials long before the text was done. I worked at a few different publishers, but was never presented with an entire book to inspire the cover.
Some of my favorites from Book One are: Naked, which is gimmicky, but just the perfect gimmick, and the Elmore Leonard series. I’m a big photography lover, and the ugly/beautiful black and white photos with the distressed type really speak to me. Which ones are your favorites?
Thanks for stopping by and commenting! I’m sorry you got dumped into the spam folder at first — Akismet got a little over zealous.
Julia- Thanks for commenting. If you don’t win, I’ll lend you my copy…
Jessica- Welcome! Thanks for the comment. The book you recommend sounds really interesting. I’m going to check it out.
Comment by Leslie Tane Design — November 16, 2007 @ 10:52 pm
Enter me in the contest! If I’m a loser, then I’ll peruse your copy some day.
My favorite book of all time - because of design and content - is a 1919 book called “Searchlights on Health: The Science of Eugenics” It is “A Guide to Purity and Physical Manhood Advice to Maiden, Wife and Mother, Love, Courtship, and Marriage”. I believe my copy was given to my great-grandmother as a wedding/shower gift.
The pictures are mostly engravings, with some photographs and drawings that look like 1910s clip art. The subjects run right into another, font size is the only designator that the topic has changed. (One of my favorite sections is “How many young Girls are ruined. Flirting and Its Dangers.”)
Comment by TT — November 17, 2007 @ 9:35 am
oh - please enter me! currently I’m enthralled with Debbie Millman’s “How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer” … I’m a graphic design student and would LOVE to get into Chip Kidd’s head (figuratively, of course!).
thanks for all the great posts.
Comment by huberama — November 17, 2007 @ 5:41 pm
TT- You’re entered. I’d love to check out that book — why does it seem just like you that it’s your choice?
Hi Huberama, and welcome! Your name’s going into the hat twice.
Comment by Leslie Tane Design — November 17, 2007 @ 10:56 pm
Just lurking about here(came from Elizasmom)…
I love me a contest, so I can’t resist. Please put me in the running for the nifty book.
Comment by Claudia — November 19, 2007 @ 5:17 pm
You’re in, Claudia. Thanks for stopping by!
Comment by Leslie Tane Design — November 19, 2007 @ 8:17 pm