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148th out of 183 books
—
57 voters
Book One: Work, 1986-2006
by
Chip Kidd,
Geoff Spear , John Updike
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.C...more
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
November 1st 2005
by Rizzoli
(first published September 27th 2005)
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good gravy, i love chip kidd. this book is like bookporn; me drooling over every cover, because i am someone who is completely influenced by covers - i cant even help it. i have multiple books-by-the-same-author even if ive never read the author just because they consistently have great covers. i just buy them every time they write a new one, and every time i think - "man, i should read one of them - they might not even be that good", but that is a problem working in the book biz - the seeing an...more
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Mar 04, 2008
Seth Hahne
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone interested in thoughtful design
After I picked up Suite Française, 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-ja...more
1 like · like · see review
After reading Kidd's semi-autobiographical novels, it was fun to get a parallel view of how his schooling and friendships led to his current book cover success. There's a little biographical background here, but mostly photos of covers, with commentary by both Kidd and sometimes the authors of the books. He gives ample credit to collaborators, and shows rejected ideas beside the final product so that the reader can get a feel for the process too. I'm in awe of the huge amount of reading he has d...more
Nov 03, 2011
trav
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
books-about-books,
biography
Absolutely stellar!
Chip Kidd's star has been on the rise for a few years now. You can't walk down an isle of fiction without seeing his handywork catching your eye.
Kidd has achieved that place that all cover designers long to be. It's a lofty one where you are given enough room to really try some unorthodox things. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't.
This book covers Kidd's work up until 2005. It's fun to read about the process of putting these covers together. And even more fun to read...more
Chip Kidd's star has been on the rise for a few years now. You can't walk down an isle of fiction without seeing his handywork catching your eye.
Kidd has achieved that place that all cover designers long to be. It's a lofty one where you are given enough room to really try some unorthodox things. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't.
This book covers Kidd's work up until 2005. It's fun to read about the process of putting these covers together. And even more fun to read...more
When this book first came out, I raced to the bookstore to get a the hardcover. I allowed myself only a few pages a day so as to savor the design process of each and every cover inside. Chip Kidd is wonderful for putting together a collection of his work like this. As a designer, I could immediately start to see his influence on the covers I was working on (in a field that's much less inspiring!). He helped me push some boundaries and get more experimental. I feel like reading this has made me a...more
If you're a book designer, Chip Kidd is what you aspire to (though you know you'll never get to that level). He is the top of the heap, the "rock star" of the profession, and he's even a Jeopardy! answer. You'll probably never get to that level. But flipping through Chip Kidd: Book One: Work: 1986-2006 sure makes you want to try.
This collection of Kidd's covers, side-by-side (as many as there can be; he's designed over 1000 so far), provides a great deal of insight into how he works. There is a...more
This collection of Kidd's covers, side-by-side (as many as there can be; he's designed over 1000 so far), provides a great deal of insight into how he works. There is a...more
Chip Kidd is the Monet, Picasso, and Warhol of book design. I say this not from a position of authority—my design history knowledge is marginal—but of amazement. With great stylistic breadth meted out over thousands of covers, proof of quality and quantity, Kidd interprets the unnamable heart of every book he designs for into a perfect illustrative adornment. The collection itself is printed masterfully, with glossy full-color renderings of nearly everything he's designed in the last twenty year...more
It's particularly cool to read this extraordinary book as a librarian --so many of the books covers inside are familiar and recognizable as the popular works. I'm purely amazed at how this book, which could come off as Chip Kidd's scrapbook of celebrity encounters instead reads as a humble offering. It's probably the best chronicle of the last 20 years of graphic design in the united states and it comes across as modest, approachable and endlessly fascinating.
i didnt really read this book but i did try and look at it. i wonder, is there something that i am missing? i hear so much about this man's book jackets and then when i see all of the ones he designed in this book i recognize many of them as being covers that i thought "why would they choose this design b/c it looks cheap?" not my style / taste at all. but it is a nicely laid out book if you were to like his designs so the rating is more for chip kidd's cover designs - not the book itself.
Quite a behind-the-scenes description of the making, or really the envisioning of book covers. Everything has a story, quite often a reasonable one based on the book being covered (but not always!). Nice as a coffee-table book, but the odd half-hardcover, size and heft makes this ergonomically challenging to read. I'm heartened that my daughter, considering taking a design class in high school, is attracted to the book - the images, the stories, and the design of the pages. With Kidd explaining,...more
Chip Kidd made me care about the covers of books long before I knew who Chip Kidd was. I worked at a bookstore for 7 1/2 years and his books were always the ones to catch my eye and prompt me to pick them up. It was an utter delight to see the majority of his covers collected here with the stories behind them.
Love love love love love. After reading, spent an hour combing through my bookshelves to find Chip Kidd cover. I'm excited to contrast this book with Penguin by Design A Cover Story 1935-2005, a book I'm pretty sure Chip Kidd would want to kick to the curb.
Very comprehensive source for Chip Kidd designs, created by the master himself. I adore the full-bleed images and the format of the book, and it's a great source of info on the design master himself without being laborious to read. Definitely recommend it.
Jun 21, 2012
Jamie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Book lovers, art lovers
Shelves:
art,
for-the-love-of-books
What an amazing guy! I had no idea who Chip Kidd was or that he was responsible for elevating book jacket design to a high art, but there's no going back to ignorance once you've been exposed to what is essentially his funny, impressive, and very readable graphic design memoir.
Amazing retrospective of the first part of Chip Kidd's career. His work is clever, high-craft, and really raised the bar for book jacket design across the industry.
Though this book is huge and bulky to read, it is an amazing and quick overview of Chip's work. Funny throughout with his brand of humor.
Cripes. This book is effing enormous. It's also awkward to read, because half of it is hard cover and the other half is paperback and flops all around. Don't get me wrong; it looks cool, but the dimensions make the it difficult to read in bed. Or on a plane. Or most places that lack a well-supported table.
Anyway, Book One compiles twenty years of Chip Kidd's best book cover designs. The authors of those books submit their opinion of Chip's work, so it makes for a nice, dense look at the design...more
Anyway, Book One compiles twenty years of Chip Kidd's best book cover designs. The authors of those books submit their opinion of Chip's work, so it makes for a nice, dense look at the design...more
Just amazing, how many covers he's really designed. Beautifully.
I just bought ten Kidd-designed books on Amazon, so pretty.
Look out for works by Chip Kidd. Always fun and inspiring.
Sep 25, 2007
Tim Hennessy
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people who judge books by their cover
A few years ago, my then-girlfriend-now wife noticed a peculiar book buying issue that plagued me. If a book I enjoyed came out with a better cover I would then try to off load the former copy.
Once and awhile this could be overlooked. Maybe even considered "upgrading".
Thankfully, Chip Kidd's work has been collected so, at least my enjoyment of his cover artwork can be enclosed in one book. Time spent stalking used book stores new arrival shelves can now be spent staring at these pages and wond...more
Once and awhile this could be overlooked. Maybe even considered "upgrading".
Thankfully, Chip Kidd's work has been collected so, at least my enjoyment of his cover artwork can be enclosed in one book. Time spent stalking used book stores new arrival shelves can now be spent staring at these pages and wond...more
This guy has rethought the book in every way that challenges a print designer. He is to book jackets as a tailor is to a suit...and a really good one controls every aspect of the design to create a signature cut.
This is one of the few design books really worth owning because of how freaking undeniably interesting the artwork is.
This is one of the few design books really worth owning because of how freaking undeniably interesting the artwork is.
Chip Kidd is a personal hero for me. He's completely changed the way books are designed and I'm not going to lie, I do judge a book by it's cover. This is a fantastic way to dive head first into the world of book design and the life of Chip Kidd. It's also an impressive coffee-table book.
A sumptious review of Chip Kidd's book-related graphic design work, with lots of testimonials from authors and designers that he's worked with over the years. It actually introduced me to a number of books that I probably otherwise wouldn't have read. And it looks spiffy on the cofeetable too.
I loved leafing through this book. I probably went through this book 8-10 times before I even began reading. Being a book designer, I enjoyed reading Chip's thoughts and commentary on his design choices. Very insightful and inspiring.
Awesome book designer (and now actual novel author) Chip Kidd makes one stand up and take notice of how books look. (Not just art books, as most of what he works on are pure prose.)
I've long been a fan of Chip Kidd's design work for Knopf, so this collection of some of his best his book covers from the past two decades was pure eye candy for me.
The book is very self-congratulatory, but there's no denying the man's talent. Lots and lots of pictures in here, which makes up for the narcissism.
A great art book/collection of Chip Kidds work in many mediums. Each page includes info on how the design came about.
Loved reading Kidd's explanations of his creations and his design choices. I definitely judge a book by its covers now.
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Chip Kidd is an American author, editor and graphic designer, best known for his innovative book covers.
Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, Kidd grew up in a Philadelphia suburb, strongly influenced by American popular culture. While a design student at Penn State, an art instructor once gave the assignment to design a book cover for Museums and Women by John Updike, who is also a Shillington native. T...more
More about Chip Kidd...
Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, Kidd grew up in a Philadelphia suburb, strongly influenced by American popular culture. While a design student at Penn State, an art instructor once gave the assignment to design a book cover for Museums and Women by John Updike, who is also a Shillington native. T...more
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