Chip Kidd is a writer and graphic designer who lives and works in New York City. Since 1986 his book jacket designs for Alfred A. Knopf have helped spawn a revolution in the art of American book packaging. His work has been profiled in such publications as Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly, The New Republic, Time, The New York Times, USA Today, Newsweek, Out, and New York magazine. Kidd has written about graphic design and popular culture for McSweeney’s, Vogue, Details, Arena, 2WICE, the New York Post, ID, and Print magazines. His books include Batman Collected (Bulfinch, 1996), Batman Animated (HarperCollins, fall 1998), The Cheese Monkeys (Scribner, 2001)—perhaps the first successful novel employing graphic design as an integral part of its subject—and Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz (Pantheon, 2001). As an editor of books of comics for Pantheon, Kidd has worked extensively with some of the most brilliant talents practicing today, including Chris Ware, Art Spiegelman, Dan Clowes, Kim Deitch, Charles Burns, Mark Beyer, Ben Katchor, and Alex Ross. His designs have been described as “monstrously ugly” (John Updike), “apparently obvious” (William Boyd), “faithful flat-earth rendering” (Don DeLillo), “surprisingly elegant” (A.S. Mehta), “a distinguished parochial comic balding Episcopal priest” (Allan Gurganus), “two colors plus a sash” (Martin Amis), and “not a piece of hype. My book was lucky.” (Robert Hughes). The monograph CHIP KIDD: BOOK ONE was published by Rizzoli International in 2005. A book-signing follows this lecture.
Chip Kidd
