Creative Process

A good place to start delving into the creative process of Chip Kidd was watching his TED talk. See link below.

http://www.ted.com/talks/chip_kidd_designing_books_is_no_laughing_matter_ok_it_is

Some of the things I picked up from his TED talk:

Book covers need to give you a visual first impression. "What do stories look like?" (Chip Kidd, TED Talk April 2012). Its all about form to content and doing this with a careful balance. He goes onto say that you can't treat the audience like they're stupid.

The first two books he talks about are Katharine Hepburn's Memoirs and Marlene Dietrich's Biography.

Katharine Hepburn's book is a book of words written in a conversational style, therefore he just used an all-type design for the cover. Whereas Marlene Dietrich's book is a biography using a collection of pictures, thus using a picture of Marlene for the cover.

"Pure Form - Pure Content"

He discusses more book cover designs which I want to look a bit more into later on.

"All of these solutions derive their origins from the text of the book, but once the book designer has read the text then he has to be an interpretor and translator." (Chip Kidd, TED talk April 2012)

"When you design book covers, you often have to learn a lot about the subject of the book. If it's a work of fiction, you need to read the book to figure out what themes you could use to best illustrate the story. When it's a work of non-fiction, you have to become familiar with the writer's work." (p. 29 Go. A Kidd's Guide to Graphic Design, Chip Kidd, 2013)

Influences

Chip Kidd's influences include Alvin Lustig, a designer from the 1940/1950s.

"His method was to read a text and get the feel of the author's creative drive, then to restate it in his own graphic terms," (James Laughlin, The Book Jackets of Alvin Lustig. Vol. 10 no. 5 1956). Much like Chip Kidd's process.

Alvin Lustig

Chip Kidd

Another influence is Peter Saville who came to fame designing album sleeves for Factory Records. Kidd appreciated the "brilliantly nuanced balancing act between form and content, in which one is so totally at odds with the other that they ultimately complement each other with unique juxtaposition."  Chip Kidd [http://www.mediabistro.com/unbeige/quote-of-note-chip-kidd_b16869 accessed 17/05/14].

Peter Saville

Chip Kidd

Carol Carson was another influence for Chip Kidd. She is is friend and colleague from Knopf. "Kidd has learned a lot from her, and has integrated into his visual vocabulary one critical aspect of her work: her private passion for photography which defines her approach to book design." (Chip Kidd, V.Vienne pg13).

Carol Carson

She uses photography instead of illustrations to demonstrate and more real and personal experience for the reader. Kind of like putting a face to name.

Kidd uses this inspiration and "stretches the visual boundaries between words and visuals by choosing pictures that at first glance appear to be non sequiturs." (Chip Kidd, V.Vienne pg14)

He looks for pictures everywhere - tending not to use stock images, he prefers old, vintage, found photographs. 

he picture used in the design below was on a postcard that came through his door. He thought the image was perfect for Paul Golding's book, the Abomination - a novel about the emotional alienation of a gay childhood.

The design has "just enough of a sinister overtone to turn an innocent picture into an ill-boding icon." (Chip Kidd, V.Vienne pg16)

Chip Kidd a Miniature Biography

Chip Kidd was born in Pennsylvania, USA in 1964. He is an author, editor, band member and graphic designer. Busy guy! Famously known for book cover designs.

Growing up, Kidd was fascinated with American popular culture, especially that of Batman.

He studied graphic design and went on to work at Knopf Publishing House. From there, he began to design book covers in an alternative and unique fashion. He developed his own style. By 2002 he'd designed 1200 covers for Knopf as well as doing freelance work. He frequently designed for the the New York Times Best Sellers list, gaining him a lot of clients.

Mr Kidd went on to edit graphic novels. He also authored and designed coffee table books including Batman Collected 1996, Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross 2003, Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz 2001.

He has also gone on to write his own novels some of which include The Cheese Monkeys 2001 and The Learners 2008.