Even if you don't recognize his name, there's probably a Chip Kidd masterpiece on your bookshelf. As Knopf's associate art director for 20 years, Kidd has conceived covers for Michael Crichton, Don DeLillo, Anne Rice, and hundreds of other scribes. Now you can view a collection of them in Chip Kidd: Book One, which shows off stacks of the graphic designer's sketches, failed attempts, and finished sleeves. Wired recently talked shop with publishing's wunder-Kidd.
WIRED: When you started in the '80s, you designed everything by hand. How has using a computer changed your creative process?
KIDD: When you're doing it the old-fashioned way, on a pasteup board, you can have a "happy accident" from time to time. You might have a piece of type with rubber cement on it, and then you drop it by mistake and it lands somewhere and you think, "Wait a minute, that's actually more interesting than what I was going to do." It's much harder to have that sort of thing happen when you're working on a computer, because the randomness factor is sharply decreased.
You're great with typography. What font is best for catching the reader's eye?
I like the bold, condensed version of Trade Gothic. It's utilitarian and timeless, but also very minimal. I try to avoid being trendy, because books are around for such a long time. Magazines can be extremely playful because they're only on shelves for a short while. I usually shy away from being too eccentric with books unless their subject is particularly outrageous - like Geek Love.
You've designed books for everyone else. Did you do your own?
I did the cover. But the book itself was curated and designed by a graphic artist named Mark Melnick. It was just a massive, monster-size job, and I wasn't up for it.
What's the most complicated design you've done?
Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. The photo on the jacket meshes with the art on the binding - it's very complex. Then inside, I did revolving page numbers. If you turn the pages quickly, like a flip book, you'll see that the numbers revolve clockwise around the borders of the pages.
What's your dream cover assignment?
My stock answer used to be the Bible, until I got to do a cover for the New Testament. So now I guess the only thing that I'd want to put my stamp on is Salinger. But I can't imagine that's ever going to happen.
- Sonia Zjawinski
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