The Seattle Public Library recently launched its 2013 Summer Reading Program by setting a new world record for the longest book domino chain. Here’s the video to prove it and a funny side-note is that the very first book used to set everything off has the title, “Before The Fall”.

We’re totally excited to announce a major art event happening soon in Chicago. On June 29th (and running until October 13th, 2013) the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago will present an exhibit titled, MODERN CARTOONIST: THE ART OF DANIEL CLOWES.

This major survey, the first museum retrospective of Daniel Clowes's work, presents more than 125 original drawings and artifacts in an elegant, inviting installation combining today's graphic style with shades of a Victorian parlor. A traveling exhibition that first appeared at the Oakland Museum of California Art (the city that Chicago-born Clowes now calls home) the show will be expanded significantly for its MCA Chicago presentation. So, if you’re a fan of this incredible artist then you will not want to miss this show!!

For more information, please CLICK HERE!

One of the functions of this website is to showcase the work of Book Cover Designer Chip Kidd. So, we created a GALLERY PAGE to do just that. If you go there (just click the “Gallery” TAB Button up above), then you need to scroll down because all the new ones we recently posted are on Page Two. Just click the “Next Page” button at the bottom of Page One. Am I making this all to confusing? Sorry, ha ha!

HEY! This is More Easy To Do, Just Please CLICK HERE!

Last March (2013) Chip Kidd was invited to appear at the Tokyo International Literary Festival in Japan. He was interviewed by the Japanese website, NIPPON. Their tagline is “Your Doorway To Japan”, and that’s pretty cool! The interview can be read by clicking HERE!

While there, Chip Kidd participated in a lecture Series where he explained his thoughts on “Book Cover Design”, his early love of Japanese Pop Culture, Designing Tezuka Osamu's Buddha for Vertical, Unearthing the Japanese Batman Bat-Manga, and also his thoughts on the Author Murakami Haruki and the Future of Book Design.

The overall experience of being back in Japan was sort of overwhelming. I mean, it’s such a beautiful place that you just never NEVER want to leave and it’s always sad to do so. Japan is completely beautiful.

OK, I seriously want this extremely cool “Book Reader” Chair created by TILT Studio. It revolves to give you the best light for reading. It also has built-in shelving for your current reading list. There is even a place for your favorite coffee mug… I NEED THIS!!

For more info: CLICK HERE!

Over at the TED Radio Hour Podcast (NPR Radio) they recently interviewed Designer Chip Kidd on “How Do Book Covers Create Their Own Stories”. It’s mostly a recap of his TED Speech, which has been pretty popular, but they also talk about the importance of Graphic Design in the service of selling books and supporting the Author’s ideas. We have embedded the podcast down below, right here, for you to enjoy. So, please give that a quick listen.

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Also, Chip’s interview was a part of a larger series of interviews with other Designers, Writers and Authors all about writing & overall book design.. The entire program is titled, “Framing The Story”, so to hear the complete episode please visit the Official NPR website, just CLICK HERE!

One more thing, we want to invite anyone who has not seen Chip Kidd’s TED Speech to check it out too. I mean, it is sort of what this interview was based on and if you have never seen it then it will make more sense. And, as always, please feel free to share this post on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social network you might be a member of. Thank you!

Here’s a fun video we knew we had to share. Chip Kidd was at the recent 2013 BookExpo America where he ran into Kristen, a roving reporter at the event. She’s the super-cute girl on the right, ha! She was also kind enough to stop & interview Chip about his next new book, “GO: A Kidd’s Guide To Graphic Design”. The book will be published by Workman Publishing Group & you can look for it to hit bookstores around October. Kristen had some really great questions so please be sure to check it out!

Here’s a quick post to share this lovely photo we just stole from our friend Amanda Palmer. She shot this last night at the book signing Event for Neil Gaiman & Chip Kidd that was at the Oberon in Cambridge, Maine. This was where they discussed their latest project, the MAKE GOOD ART Speech Book, which is out now, published by William Morrow.

Neil Gaiman talked about his future plans for the new SANDMAN Series to be published by Vertigo (DC Comics) later this year and he also talked his next brand-new book, that will probably be a major bestseller, and it’s titled, “The Ocean at the End of the Lane: a Novel” (To be published by William Morrow - Look for it around June 18th, 2013).

Also, Chip Kidd got to mention his new art book to be released later this year that will teach kids about design. It’s called, “GO: A Kidd’s Guide To Graphic Design” and you can look for that book around October 8th, 2013 and it will be published by the Workman Publishing Company.

Yesterday, as an ongoing part of their series of “Inside Random House” promotional videos, Random House Inc. posted a new feature story titled, “The Art of Cover Design” . Its main focus is about the creation and art direction of Book Jackets… and how they relate to both sales and the book author’s artistic vision.

The video features members of the Random House creative team who are very involved with the design of book covers, listed here in order of appearance:

Marysarah Quinn - Senior VP & Creative Director of Crown Publishing Group
Robbin Schiff - Executive Art Director of Random House Publishing Group
Chip Kidd - Associate Art Director at Knopf & Editor-At-Large of Graphic Novels at Pantheon
Peter Mendelsund - Associate Art Director at Knopf & Art Director at Pantheon
Christopher Brand - Art Director for Crown, Hogarth, and Broadway

This post is a quick shout-out to announce that we have added a ton of new photos of Chip Kidd-Designed Book Covers over in our GALLERY PAGE. Yeah, there were so many that we had to split them up between Page ONE and TWO. There’s a bunch of new James Ellroy, Haruki Murakami, J. D. McClatchy and even a John LeCarre!

So, please be sure to visit them both! The link TAB to the Gallery is always at the top of this page, just below the header. Or, if you’re lazy ( Ha Ha! ), then please just CLICK HERE. You will be glad you did!

(The photo up above is just a small example of the book covers added)