Chip Kidd

Chip Kidd is “the closest thing to a rock star” in the world of graphic design (USA Today). He is Associate Art Director at Alfred A. Knopf, where he has been a jacket designer since 1986. It is safe to say that over the course of two decades he has changed the way book jackets are perceived—from merely a protective covering to a work of art that sells the book. A notable example is the iconic T. rex image he designed for Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, already anticipating how it could be used for movie promotion.

Chip Kidd is a novelist (his first novel, The Cheese Monkeys, was published in 2001); he is the driving force behind the Pantheon graphic books program, which includes the work of Art Spiegelman, Chris Ware, and Marjane Satrapi; and he is also very active in the world of graphic design beyond books through his freelance work, which includes the art direction and cover design of Paul Simon’s latest album, Surprise. Bringing all his work together in 2005, Rizzoli published Chip Kidd: Book One, a collection of his jackets and the story of his life so far, introduced by John Updike and with contributions from authors David Sedaris, Donna Tartt, and Elmore Leonard.

Chip Kidd lectures frequently on graphic art and design, comics, and his book jacket work.