Chip Kidd

Chip Kidd

“Design is a response to a specific problem. You are given a problem to solve, and then you let the problem itself tell you what your solution is.”-Chip Kidd

Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Chip Kidd is an American graphic designer who was heavily influenced by pop culture is best known for his book cover, having been described as “the world’s greatest book-jacket designer” (James Ellroy).  While he has designed the jackets to many of my favorite books, particularly for acclaimed authors like David Sedaris and Dean Koontz, he has also tried his hand in comic book design, designing for DC Comics for several years.  He has dabbled in graphic novels and continues to currently, and is a self-described serious collector of Batman memorabilia. This is one reason why I chose to profile Chip Kidd.  My husband is a die-hard fan of classic comic books, particularly anything that has to do with Batman and the Joker.  Like Chip Kidd, he has a room of Joker memorabilia and piles of comic books, a full arm-sleeve tattoo dedicated to the 1960s version of TwoFace and the Joker, and a genuine appreciation for all things Batman.  What drew me into Chip Kidd besides this was the integration of things that my husband is interested in with books that I have enjoyed; it was kind of a subliminal message that I had to learn more about this guy.  I came across this archive of his book cover designs, please visit it to really get a feel for the versatile dynamic of Kidd’s designs at http://bookcoverarchive.com/Chip_Kidd

I also found a photo gallery on Time Magazine’s website that has a great sample of his designs as well: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1853737,00.html

I also want to mention that he designed the logo for the popular Michael Crichton Jurassic Park series, maybe you’ve heard of the books or seen the movies?  The more I read about Chip Kidd, the more I liked the guy.  Currently, Chip Kidd lives in Manhattan where he works as an art director for Knopf, an imprint of Random House. Admirably, he is still in high demand, many authors have contract clauses that Chip Kidd design the covers for their books.   The above image I chose is the cover to one of the books I read that he designed the cover for, and like his reputation, the book cover and the coinciding story inside become one once you begin to read this story.