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.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Browse our Bookshelf Favorites store for big savings on popular fiction, nonfiction, children's books, and more. |
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Stylishly designed and richly produced, this witty volume works both as a retrospective of Kidd's renowned book covers and as a memoir of his career in publishing. "I did not grow up yearning to become a book designer," Kidd declares in his prologue. "What I wanted to be was Chris Partridge on The Partridge Family." Thank heavens that plan didn't work out; ever since Sara Eisenman hired Kidd at Knopf, he's been churning out creepy, striking, sly, smart, unpredictable covers that make readers appreciate books as objects of art as well as literature. His accounts of the development of such famous covers as the clear acetate jacket for Donna Tartt's The Secret History and the high-gloss spot-laminate design for Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle are fascinating. And his irresistible, tongue-in-cheek remarks keep the text from getting gushy or self-aggrandizing. Example: "One of the great advantages to designing book covers is that you don't ever have to have an idea, much less a thought, ever, in your head. That is the author's job." Publishing insiders will relish the behind-the-scenes stories. Kidd's descriptions of his design process and training make the book equally rewarding for graphic artists. This is a gorgeous gift for serious lovers of books and design. (Nov. 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
About the Author
Chip Kidd is associate art director at Alfred A. Knopf. His first novel, The Cheese Monkeys, was a national bestseller and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. He is the editor-at-large for Pantheon and the author of Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz, Batman Collected, and others. He is presently at work on a second novel, The Learners. He lives in New York City and Stonington, Connecticut.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Wow. This book - much like Chip Kidd's design work - is simply stunning. Every page is engaging.
Fortunately, Chip Kidd happens to be a very good writer. There is no ego here, Kidd keeps a sense of humor throughout.
This is a beautiful book for every designer to add to their library. My one suggestion would be to spend a few extra bucks for the hardcover edition...
Fortunately, Chip Kidd happens to be a very good writer. There is no ego here, Kidd keeps a sense of humor throughout.
This is a beautiful book for every designer to add to their library. My one suggestion would be to spend a few extra bucks for the hardcover edition...
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
After I picked up Suite Française by Irene Nemirovsky, I happened to look at the cover-design credit and recognized the name Chip Kidd. After a moment's reflection as to the source of my familiarity with the designer, I walked over to my bookshelf and picked up a volume from my collection of Osamu Tezuka's Buddha. Sure enough, Kidd had designed the covers for the entire series (incidentally, I found the design one part frustrating and one part inspiring, as the spines line up nicely and thematically but the half-jacket is kind of obnoxious to deal with).
After that, I went through my shelves and picked out any of the books that I thought had interesting covers. At least half of those were designed by Kidd as well. Kafka on the Shore. Pagan Babies. The Enigma of Japanese Power. Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans. Et cetera.
I was intrigued, Googled our dear designer, and found that he was more popular than I had properly imagined. This piqued still further my curiosity. And so now I have another book with a cover designed by Kidd: Chip Kidd: Book One: Work: 1986-2006, a 400-page volume exhibiting a sample of his book-jacket designwork from the last twenty years.
The book itself is a treasure. A visual smorgasbord of styles and themes. A veritable cornucopia of novel treatments. While there is an occasional overlap of feel or technique (or some other abstract quantification equally obscured and subjective), the breadth of design direction is truly impressive.
Kidd is clearly a creative devil.
And this collection of his work is impressively presented. Book One is a treat for both the eyes and the mind. While a mere presentation of the jacket designs themselves would be a worthwhile scheme for a design collection such as this, the work is elevated by helpful descriptions both of product and process by the creator himself as well as reactions penned by authors/victims of his creative process. Kidd's text shows both a joy in his work and a look into what goes into the crafting of a book jacket that enlarges upon the work it contains'and does so with humour and more apparent humility than I would have expected.
I found the book so interesting that I blew through the entire thing in two days. Doubtlessly, I'll return to it time and again over the coming months and years. In any case, I highly recommend it to those interested in thoughtful design, a pairing of words too rare in our day.
NOTE: a big bone of contention is not the visual design of the volume's cover but its physical properties. While its dimensions are perfectly suitable for an art collection/coffee table read, the unique composition of its cover can be difficult to negotiate. The hardback cover only extends (front and back) to the point of the spine of the book photographed on the cover. Inside the hardback cover is a paperback cover that extends to house the rest of the book. It is awkward, certainly, and took a bit of getting used to, but once I became accustomed to the book, holding it comfortably ceased to be a difficulty. Heh, a book with a physical learning curve'that was a new one for me.
After that, I went through my shelves and picked out any of the books that I thought had interesting covers. At least half of those were designed by Kidd as well. Kafka on the Shore. Pagan Babies. The Enigma of Japanese Power. Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans. Et cetera.
I was intrigued, Googled our dear designer, and found that he was more popular than I had properly imagined. This piqued still further my curiosity. And so now I have another book with a cover designed by Kidd: Chip Kidd: Book One: Work: 1986-2006, a 400-page volume exhibiting a sample of his book-jacket designwork from the last twenty years.
The book itself is a treasure. A visual smorgasbord of styles and themes. A veritable cornucopia of novel treatments. While there is an occasional overlap of feel or technique (or some other abstract quantification equally obscured and subjective), the breadth of design direction is truly impressive.
Kidd is clearly a creative devil.
And this collection of his work is impressively presented. Book One is a treat for both the eyes and the mind. While a mere presentation of the jacket designs themselves would be a worthwhile scheme for a design collection such as this, the work is elevated by helpful descriptions both of product and process by the creator himself as well as reactions penned by authors/victims of his creative process. Kidd's text shows both a joy in his work and a look into what goes into the crafting of a book jacket that enlarges upon the work it contains'and does so with humour and more apparent humility than I would have expected.
I found the book so interesting that I blew through the entire thing in two days. Doubtlessly, I'll return to it time and again over the coming months and years. In any case, I highly recommend it to those interested in thoughtful design, a pairing of words too rare in our day.
NOTE: a big bone of contention is not the visual design of the volume's cover but its physical properties. While its dimensions are perfectly suitable for an art collection/coffee table read, the unique composition of its cover can be difficult to negotiate. The hardback cover only extends (front and back) to the point of the spine of the book photographed on the cover. Inside the hardback cover is a paperback cover that extends to house the rest of the book. It is awkward, certainly, and took a bit of getting used to, but once I became accustomed to the book, holding it comfortably ceased to be a difficulty. Heh, a book with a physical learning curve'that was a new one for me.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Art Vandelay
Format:Hardcover
I highly recommend this book to any graphic designer. He details nearly every cover design, and its great to hear the back story, and see preliminary designs and alternate final designs. Ironically, my only complaint about the book is its cover. I have the paperback edition, the cover only covers half of the book, and this makes flipping through the pages kind of unwieldy. The cuteness of this cover design wears off quickly. It will be interesting to see how he rates this cover in the sequel to this book in 20 years.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inside the mind of the greatest book cover designer
I love the stream of consciousness of his creativity! Saw him give a TED talk. Wish he'd do my book cover!
Published 13 months ago by Psych teacher
5.0 out of 5 stars
Chipp Kidd
My daughter who is a Graphic Arts major seen this book somewhere and wanted a copy of it. It came quickly and she was quite happy with it!
Published 14 months ago by Mary A. Musilek
4.0 out of 5 stars
Chip Kidd
Book received in pretty good condition. A few deep wrinkles on the cover and back pages. Otherwise, was sufficiently presentable.
Published on November 30, 2009 by Amy L. Osborne
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book
This is a great, great book. If you're a fan of Kidd's work, by all means buy this book. If you are at all interested in truly inspirational graphic design, this book is a... Read more
Published on January 1, 2008 by W. Maite
5.0 out of 5 stars
Chip Kidd's Jacket designs
I HAD to buy this book after having read about it in another forum. Kidd's artworks are superb!
Published on December 28, 2007 by P. S. SESHADRI
5.0 out of 5 stars
Why are you reading this itstead of buying the book?
This book is bound with a split hardback/softback cover, so if you appreciate design -- which I assume you do since you're considering a compilation of book designs -- the book is... Read more
Published on March 22, 2006 by D. Haring Jr.
4.0 out of 5 stars
FUN COVERS
This an excellent ,colorful book with very useful and informative comments,they are also humorous.Kidd mentions that he shows failed designs when he lectures to show that even a... Read more
Published on January 25, 2006 by ludido
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inspirational
Chip Kidd is one of those people who makes me think about the work that I do, and inspires me to try to be more creative. Read more
Published on January 10, 2006 by S. Jones
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
