Chip Kidd – Designer Artist Talk

Chip Kidd is a contemporary American graphic designer, author and editor. He is best recognized as graphic designer for book covers. Being a huge admirer of comic books he not only wrote some of those for DC Comics but also designed their covers.

Kidd has a humble and self-deprecating attitude and never accepted credit for his work. For instance, when he declared that he made his career on the back of authors and that he is fortunate to work on Cormac McCarthy’s books and not the other way round. Moreover, he confessed to be a huge fan of comic books, especially Batman series. In fact, he has designed book covers and wrote several of DC Comics. The comic books include The Golden Age of DC Comics: 365 Days, Superman, The Complete History of Batman and Wonder Woman. Alex Ross illustrated one of the exclusive Batman/Superman stories that Kidd authored.

In addition to graphic designing, Chip Kidd also wrote novels. In 2001, he released his debut novel The Cheese Monkeys which is an academic satire. It narrates the coming-of-age tale about state college art students who were bullied by their graphic designing instructor. The book largely draws upon Kidd’s real-life experiences. The sequel of the novel The Learners appeared in 2008. Kidd wrote the story for the original graphic novel, Batman: Death By Design (2012). In 2014, he received an AIGA medal for his contribution to graphic designing industry.