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Described as “the closest thing to a rock star” in graphic design today (USA Today), Chip Kidd is universally recognized as an American master of contemporary book design. At the forefront of a revolution in publishing, Kidd’s iconic covers, with their inventive marriage of type and found images, have influenced an entire generation of design practitioners in many fields. Chip Kidd: Book One collects all of his book covers and designs for the first time, as well as hundreds of developmental sketches and concepts-annotated by Kidd and by many of the best-selling authors he’s worked with over the years. The result is an important contribution to the design canon today as well as a visually dazzling (and often hilarious) insider’s look at the design and publishing process.The book also showcases Kidd’s work with comics and graphic novels, including his collaborations with leading artists and writers in the field. Featured are projects for DC Comics, including Batman and Superman, as well as Kidd’s award-winning exploration of the art of Charles M. Schulz. Chip Kidd: Book One is sure to enthrall design aficionados, book lovers, pop-culture fanatics, comics fans, and design students.
Curated and designed by Mark Melnick. Photography by Geoff Spear. With an introduction by John Updike and contributions from Amy Bloom, William Boyd, Augusten Burroughs, Peter Carey, Michael Crichton, Don DeLillio, Dave Eggers, James Ellroy, Joe Eszterhas, Christina Garcia, Allan Gurganus, Robert Hughes, Gish Jen, Jim Knipfel, John LeCarré, Elmore Leonard, Michael Malone, Armistead Maupin, J. D. McClatchy, Larry McMurtry, Brad Meltzer, Frank Miller, Haruki Murakami, Mark O’Donnell, Orphan Pamuk, Henry Petroski, David Rakoff, Alex Ross, Oliver Sacks, Mark Salzman, David Sedaris, Mona Simpson, Art Spiegelman, Donna Tartt, Linn Ullmann, Gloria Vanderbilt, Vendela Vida, Chris Ware, and Edmund White. Whew. Rizzoli, 2005. 400 pp.
Order Book One from Amazon in hardcover or paperback or from Barnes & Noble in hardcover or paperback.
LATEST JOURNAL ENTRY
Rough Justice.
The new book I worked on for Alex Ross, Rough Justice
RECENT CLIPPINGS
The Learners Paperback in The New York Times Book Review
The paperback edition of The Learners (available now
[read “The Learners Paperback in The New York Times Book Review” in its entirety…]
Chip Bids John Updike Adieu
Editors and writers remember John Updike over at Slate Magazine, and Chip is among them (and so, for that matter, is J. D. McClatchy):
Working with and for Mr. Updike was an honor and a treat, and because he was so prolific—not only in quantity but in type of book (novel, poems, essays, criticism)—there were many different kinds of design scenarios. One extreme was his habit of drawing up by hand the entire cover layout, including type specs, which I or another of us in the art department would then execute. On the other end of the spectrum, he would occasionally let us do whatever we wanted. And then everything in between.
[read “Chip Bids John Updike Adieu” in its entirety…]
The BDR on Being Digital
Joseph Sullivan over at The Book Design Review covers, so to speak, an oldie but a goody from Chip’s portfolio (and one that hasn’t yet made it into the Work. section of this site, but never fear: it’ll be there soon enough), Nicholas Negroponte’s Being Digital (1995):
I was lucky enough to live in London in ’94 and ’95, and I picked this up in a bookshop in Camden Town. I had no idea who Chip Kidd was, and only a marginal interest in graphic design at that point. But even I knew, back in ’95, that this was a pretty sexy way to package ideas.