| March 05, 2008
Chuckles were had by all at a recent presentation I attended which featured designer/author Chip Kidd. With an audience of about 200 people, Kidd was able to share the ups and downs of his current cover design, work at Knopf, and talk about and ready from his latest book "The Learners".
His awareness that most were interested in his design was clear in that he started the lecture off like he had just been doing the first portion the night before. He went right into his covers he's currently working on, ones particular that have been rejected recently from David Sedaris and Cormac McCarthy. He talked about his design for the book "Schulz and Peanuts" and the legal problems that came about. He spoke on Opera's Book Club dot whack and how it ruined the design of one of his covers but then added 2 million to its sales immediately. Kidd plays with his hair a lot, makes tons of jokes, and actually isn't as snobby as I prepared myself to expect.
When talking to him I told him his influence on my interest in design hailed back to when I purchased the book, Jurassic Park in 1994 and saw that he had designed the cover. As a kid i knew nothing of design, but seeing his name credited made sparked my interest. I'm not sure what he thought of that, he seemed suspicious but he was in a unique mood by the time he was signing books. *Note the expression of fright in the photo.
His tour is going on throughout the country right now so go check it out if it's in your area. The tickets came with a copy of The Learners.
Tags: book jackets, chip kidd, tour
Topic: Graphic Design
Creative Dialogue
2 Comments |[ Add Comment ]
| J.R. Caines
on March 06, 2008 “Nice. Did you touch him?” |
| Jon McGrath
on March 11, 2008 “That picture is awesome. Your story also cracked me up. I have seen Chip speak a couple of times and he never fails to amuse. Thanks for sharing. I better see it he is stopping in Chicago. ” |

