Chip Kidd: Besides being best known for his book cover designs, 48 year old Kidd is also an author and editor. One of his most famous novels is The Learners. Along with that, he also wrote The Cheese Monkeys. He also has created many books for comics, especially Batman. It is clear that he has a love for Batman, because much of his work has revolved around this iconic character. He resides in New York, where he has worked for the same company for more than 20 years. Kidd is an art director for Alfred A. Knopf where he designs book covers and jackets that have became icons. Jurassic Park, Naked, Dry and The Hunters. His latest media break through was for his 2012 TED talk which showed off his talent as a lecturer and somewhat of a comedian.
Kidd's Book Design's for Crichton's Series
Kidd's Own Novel and Book Design of The Learners
Paul Rand: Known as one of the founding fathers of design, Rand was born 1914 and died in 1916. He left behind some of the most iconic trademarks for Americans. He mainly worked on corporate logos, IBM's being what he is most known for today. Aside from logos such as UPS, Ford, and ABC, Rand created page designs for magazines, such as Apparel Arts. Rand was also a New Yorker and worked in New York City. He was the author of several books such as Thoughts on Design which he wrote and designed the iconic cover for. Today his designs live through modernism, considering he was one of the originators of Swiss Modernism.
Rand's iconic corporate logo for IBM
Rands own book and cover design
What is the take away from each?
Chip Kidd: First off, on the non design related side of things, I took away that the funnier you are, you more people tend to listen to you. Chip Kidd was animated throughout his whole lecture and it kept me engaged and I actually took away something. The main aspect that jumped out to me as a viewer was his "apple with the word apple" concept. I never really gave it that much thought before, especially for book covers, but now it makes perfect sense to me. Like Kidd said himself, you never should have the word apple and a photo or drawing of an apple paired with it. He basically said that it's making people feel stupid, like they need to be told something that's already obvious. I agree with him because, now that I've recently looked at book covers, I find the ones that aren't obvious from the title more interesting. I would pick up a book that has an abstract cover over a book that has a tiger on it and the title is "The Tiger's Eyes." I would rather the tiger book's cover be about another aspect, such as having an abstract drawing of the jungle, without a tiger anywhere to be seen. Kidd showed David Sedaris' novel, Naked, a cover he designed as an example. Readers would expect to see a naked body on the cover or bare skin. However, Kidd used boxers and then an x-ray of a man's lower body. That was a smart move because it was unexpected but it still fit with the title and plot.
Kidd's Book Design for David Sedaris' Naked
Another More Obvious Version of Naked
Paul Rand: When it comes to book covers and jackets Rand has a style that not everyone is particularly drawn to, but with his design techniques, he was still able to get his message across. For instance, a lot of his covers consist of imagery and type that is cut out into abstract shapes. One of his most famous covers for H.L. Mencken only had distorted squares/rectangles, type, and a photo that had been cropped in an interesting form. However, with the add in of the raised arm and pointed figure, the cover conveys emotion. That symbol is usually associated with people that are demanding something. Therefore, it gives off the feeling on tension between the reader and the character displayed on the cover. Even though the type looks handwritten, the shapes don't have perfectly straight lines, and the depiction of a raised up arm is not a clean drawing, the cover still would make me want to pick it up and read more. I took away that covers don't have to look completely finished, with set type and a photo bleeding edge to edge for it to be successful. The more free handed style can work out just as well. Also, it helps that Rand added pops of color to catch the eyes of viewers. I noticed, walking around bookstores that I pick up books more often when they have a bright color somewhere on the front cover.
Rand's cover design for H.L. Mencken
Another cover design of Rand
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