Chip Kidd Book Jacket Designer Extraordinaire
Chip Kidd Interview Here
The Learners Book Cover
(note: in text citation format changed when posted onto blog)
As a young boy Chip Kidd, like many men of a certain age, enjoyed reading comic books, Batman especially. He went on to study at Penn State where he learned under Lanny Somese. At age 21 he became a junior design assistant5 to art director Sara Eisenman at Knopf publishing group. Today he is associate art director for the same group. (sentence here). These three facts contribute greatly to the style of work Kidd has developed. One can see his comic book influence as well as his utilization of what he learned under Somese in much of his work.
As a child he was attracted to the bright colors, bold lettering and overall design of comic books.2 If one examines Kidd’s early works one can see the comic book influence. At that time Kidd mainly “gravitated toward typographical solutions” 6 he had not yet found his niche. Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love and William Boyd’s Brazzaville Beach are a few examples of Kidd’s typographical pieces. The choice of color for each of the books, orange for Geek Love and yellow and red for Brazzaville Beach, grabs the attention of the bookstore peruser. They are bright and bold, not to mention, the yellow and red are reminiscent of Robin’s uniform (Robin of Batman and Robin). His choice of typeface is simple, much like the writing found in comic books, and it also “evoke[s] the mood, the style or the subculture of the literary work…”6 Although Kidd has expanded beyond his nod-to-comic-book style, one can see its influence through out his work. He has even found a way to come back to his roots working with graphic novelists and comic writers Art Spiegelman, Chris Ware and Frank Miller, to create their work.
In the beginning years of Kidd’s employment at Knopf it was purchased by New York Magazine, which brought in the now editor-and-chief Sonny Mehta along with Carol Carson, replacing Eisenman as art director. Working under Mehta has afforded Kidd creative freedom in the workplace, including the ability to select the books he designs jackets for.6 As well as the ability to run a business out of his office at Knopf in exchange for working at Pantheon for free in some cases.6 It is likely, however, that he owes his raving success to Carol Carson. She is responsible for introducing the idea of using photographs for book covers rather than illustrations, which was most common up until that time. An obsession with photographs in her personal life felt it would bring the book out of fantasy and base it in reality.6
Kidd quickly adapted and in many ways surpassed Carson. Many times Carson will choose an image that “complement[s] the book title.”6 Kidd, however, “tries to avoid the literal”1 “stretch[ing] the visual boundaries between word and visuals by choosing pictures that appear at first glance to be non sequiturs.”6 Kidd’s preference is to stay away from the literal, wanting to “engage the reader’s intelligence and imagination”16 challenging them to make the leap from “what they see to what they read.”6 Even when Kidd is literal, as he was with Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park when he chose the skeleton of a dinosaur and the mane and shoulder of a horse, rather than the entire horse, for Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses he stays away from the completely obvious.
It was in a class with Lanny Somese that Kidd first learned of what Somese termed the verbal/visual connection, which is often utilized by Kidd for his covers. It is the idea that the verbal aspect of things can open up the visual part of it and vise versa, each contributing to the other’s ability to be understood.6 Paul Golding’s Abomination is an example of Kidd’s “ability to translate a book’s mood into an arresting image.”2 On the cover a cute, fluffy, toy bunny is flipped over, standing on its head. The connection between the title and the image is not entirely clear until the contents of the book have been revealed and then the image fits. It makes sense to have a stuffed animal, the symbol of childhood, flipped onto its head when the novel is about a homosexual boy growing up in an intolerant family. Understanding the verbal/visual connection and adding his own brand of mischievous wit has enabled Kidd to be successful in his choices for designs.
With the addition of the photographic image into Kidd’s repertoire he became interested in collages for his covers. He splits the cover into several rectangles inputting images into the rectangles. He became known for his ability to “split his covers into two equal triangles”6 to create a best seller. It cannot be helped but to mention that comic strips are often broken down into rectangles, something Kidd was no doubt aware of. The purpose of the rectangle in comics is to allow the reader “to fill in the blanks between the seen and the unseen, the visible and the invisible.”6 One is to look at the cover and come away with knowledge about the book.6 Take for example Geoff Ryman’s Was, once one looks at the cover there can be little doubt about the content of the book. A blue sky and the title occupies the upper rectangle, the lower third of the cover has four images, a tin man, a lion, a girl with a dog and a scarecrow these two rectangles are separated by a thin rectangular image of a wheat field. The images of the five main characters of The Wizard of Oz have been changed and modernized, not even resembling the original characters; indeed only Dorothy’s arm and lap are visible but subject matter is clear.
The cover Kidd created for Richmond Lattimore’s translation of The New Testament is probably the most controversial cover he has created. Splitting the cover into two rectangles with title and author in the upper rectangle while in the lower triangle he placed an image of a dead man; blood drying his face, only his eye looking right back at the viewer and a little of his face visible. Kidd borrowed the image from Andres Serrano whose piece Piss Christ had already caused a stir in Christians everywhere. Serrano’s involvement in the book prompted religious bookstores as well as national chain stores to reject carrying the book.4 Despite the failure to sell it became one of the covers Kidd is “most proud of.” 6 Most recently, probably because he has used every ordinary solution, Kidd’s covers have become more and more intricate. Utilizing nearly every inch of the cover, as well as the spine. He even has found a way to use the actual book to complete his design. One of the most involved covers he has created is for his own book The Learners. The cover is like a puzzle; depending on how you hold it you see different things, faces come together and new images are created.
It is difficult to pinpoint a primary theme running through out an artists work when the artist has admittedly tried everything “beautiful, ugly, mysterious, deadpan, monochromatic, complex simple, messy, tidy, busy, boring, interesting…” 3 However, there have been a few influences in Kidd’s life that have contributed to his personal style. His love of comic books, his education under Somese as well as the artistic freedom he receives at Knopf, without these influences it is possible that Kidd would just be another Joe on the street.
Work Cited
1.Blumberg, Jess. “Q&A.” Smithsonian 38, no. 8 (2007) [journal online]. Accessed 26April 2009. Available from http://0- web.ebscohost.com.skyline.cudenver.edu:80/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=108&sid=a72686fd-9683-478a- beb2-c8aaca68fbac%40sessionmgr102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=27195552.
2.Cox, Ana Marie. “Chip Kidd cover boy.” Mother Jones 24, no 3 (1999) [journal online]. Accessed 25 April 2009. Available from http://0- web.ebscohost.com.skyline.cudenver.edu/ehost/detail?vid=14&hid=103&sid=5378353e-4cfd-4d23-9be0 a955029c4b21%40sessionmgr109&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=9610011568#db=aph&AN=1816646.
3.Foer, J.S. “The Kidd Stays in the Picture,” International Design 53, no. 3 (2006): 50-57.
4.Kidd, Chip. Chip Kidd. Book One: Work 1986-2006. New York: Rizzoli, 2005.
5.Mayer, Andre. “Hot Chip. Chip Kidd: book designer, novelist, Renaissance man” CBC.CA (2008). Accessed 25 April 2009. Available from http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/chipkidd.html.
6.Vienne, Veronique. Chip Kidd. New Have: Yale University Press, 2003.
Work Consulted
Burgoyne, Patrick. “Cover Stories.” Creative Review 25, no. 12 (2005) [journal online].
Accessed 25 April 2009. Available from https://mail.mscd.edu/attach/HWWilsonRecords.html?sid=onOqqjiG2A4&mbox=INBOX&charset=utf-8&uid=207&number=2&process=js&filename=HWWilsonRecords.html.
Helfand, Glen. “Chip Kidd.” Advocate, no. 716 (1996) [journal online]. Accessed 25
April 2009. Available from http://0-web.ebscohost.com.skyline.cudenver.edu/ehost/detail?vid=12&hid=103&sid=5378353e-4cfd-4d23-9be0-a955029c4b21%40sessionmgr109&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=9610011568.
Minzesheimer, Bob. “Chip Kidd, book cover designer, unmasked.” USAToday.com. (2003). Accessed 25 April 2009. Available from http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2003-09-02-chip-kidd_x.htm.
Orecklin, Michelle. “Chip Kidd.” Time Style and Design 16, (2005) [journal online]. Accessed 25 April 2009. Available from http://0-web.ebscohost.com.skyline.cudenver.edu/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=103&sid=5b786cbf-9772-452f-9968-e092b7028a5e%40sessionmgr109&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=18905829
