Biodiesel Initiative Toolkit

John Gall

Parts of this article I liked about John Gall

Gall’s stylish sensibility, simple but elegant use of typography and quietly rebellious spirit infuse these literary works with an added dimension. Subtle and compelling, his covers play with the perceptions of the viewer in unexpected ways, and to satisfying effect. Scanning the table of trade paperbacks at the local bookseller, one would have no difficulty spotting Gall’s distinctive and visually articulate work. Collage, photography, typography and art are all grist for the mill, yet no matter how varied the medium, the end result is pure Gall.

SB: What makes a good book cover?

Gall: Different groups within the publishing company will each have different answers for this question. What an editor thinks is good, Sales might not. And as designers we have a different set of criteria, which must also include everyone else’s criteria. How that gets resolved is always a bit tricky. A really great cover is going to convey the essence of the book in a unique and surprising way that maybe pushes the design envelope a bit. It might even add to and enhance the editorial content of the book. A cover that is seen and respected by other designers is a good thing too, I guess, but the mission is really to allow the book to make a great first impression.

Whether people actually buy books because of the cover is open for debate. I mean, even I don’t know, though I’m usually checking the credit to see who is designing them.

SB: Each of your covers has a surprise. What I’ve noted in works by some other respected designers is that, in an attempt to create a well-constructed, prize-worthy creative jewel, the resulting design solution doesn’t surprise the viewer. Cover after cover, how do you find twists and turns and all those creative surprises that continue to jolt and engage the viewer?

Gall: Basically, I am always trying to surprise myself; and if I can do that, odds are others will perceive it as invigorating design. And I’m a big fan of the happy accident, and if I can contradict what I was saying about mass-market books, I will also approach a project from the viewpoint of what I shouldn’t do. Like I really shouldn’t put an airbrushed unicorn on a cover … but let’s see what it looks like.

Gall just like Chip Kidd has a way of making all his book covers innovative. Both men work for the Knopf Group.

Chip Kidd

Ripped straight from one of my favorite sites....WIKIPEDIA!

Chip Kidd is an American author, editor, and graphic designer, best known for his innovative book covers.

Kidd is currently associate art director at Knopf, an imprint of Random House. He first joined the Knopf design team in 1986, when he was hired as a junior assistant. Turning out jacket designs at an average of 75 a year, Kidd has freelanced for Doubleday, Farrar Straus & Giroux, Grove Press, HarperCollins, Penguin/Putnam, Scribner and Columbia University Press in addition to his work for Knopf. Kidd also supervises graphic novels at Pantheon, and in 2003 he collaborated with Art Spiegelman on a biography of cartoonist Jack Cole, Jack Cole and Plastic Man: Forms Stretched to Their Limits. His output includes cover concepts for books by Mark Beyer, Bret Easton Ellis, Haruki Murakami, Dean Koontz, Cormac McCarthy, Frank Miller, Michael Ondaatje, Alex Ross, Charles Schulz, Osamu Tezuka, David Sedaris, Donna Tartt, John Updike and others. His design for Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park novel was carried over into marketing for the film adaptation. Oliver Sacks and other authors have contract clauses stating that Kidd design their books.

Parts of the Smithsonian Interview I liked:

Q: What do you say to the axiom "Don't judge a book by its cover"?

A: My reaction is, Oh, go ahead.

Q: Does a typical idea come from the book itself, the author, something on the street, a flea market, a dream, or what?

A: It's totally everywhere. Absolutely. And the nice thing about books is the deadlines aren't as crazy as somewhere like a magazine or, God forbid, a newspaper. So, you have the luxury of time usually, to read a book and let it kind of like simmer and percolate in your head. And waiting for the right solution to come along, whether it's something you come up with on your own or a piece of art they you see in a gallery. I would definitely recommend anybody who wants to be a book jacket designer to move to New York City.

My own actual words (which are open for judgement):

Chip Kidd is important to us because there was once a question about him on Jeopardy. Ok thats not the only reason he is important but you have to admit it is a big deal. Book cover designs have significantly improved in the past couple of decades and Chip Kidd has been on the forefront of this development. His ideas are always fresh and and even as he has created thousands of book covers he is still able to create great ideas.

Moodboard

Font Study

Concept Board

Journal 1

Brainstorming ideas before you get to the computer is an excellent idea. It saves a designer time from starring at the computer screen wondering what to do and lets the designer get ideas out quickly.

Mind Map: A quick way to get thoughts out. To me I always imagine this as my brain throwing up information onto a piece of paper and then I go back and analyze it. The brain thinks in weird ways and this process finds different directions an idea can take. I always try to be relaxed when I'm doing this and not think about time or whether the words I'm writing on the page really mean anything. Mind maps are one of my favorite ways to brainstorm.

Concept Map: Uses longer phrases than a mind map. It allows for more analysis of relationships between concepts. Should go from general to specific.

Free Writing is an exercise I have never used before. Although I did start to describe the book thoroughly I didn't really appreciate writing in full sentences. It cramped my style. Afterwards I did make an interesting list trying to decide why some groups of people in the book are happier than others.