Chip Kidd

“One of the advantages of being a book designer is that it’s not up to me to come up with the ideas, that’s what the author does. The author fills my head with his manuscript. Then I react. Actually, I try not to have a style, I prefer to have a sensibility,” says Chip Kidd, one of the leading book designers of the United States.

Publishers Weekly described his book jackets as “creepy, striking, sly, smart, unpredictable covers that make readers appreciate books as objects of art as well as literature.” Meanwhile, Kidd proudly quotes some authors who have described his designs as “monstrously ugly” (John Updike), “apparently obvious” (William Boyd), “surprisingly elegant” (A. S. Mehta), and “not a piece of hype. My book was lucky” (Robert Hughes).

Kidd is not only a graphic designer but also a novelist, whose debut The Cheese Monkeys was a national bestseller and elected Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times. Kidd is also editor-at-large of a series of books on comics, of which he is a great fan. Batman is his favorite, and Kidd is a serious collector of merchandise featuring the Caped Crusader. In his remaining spare time, Kidd is the lead vocalist, percussionist, lyricist and co-songwriter of the new wave/alternative rock band Artbreak.