Picks of the Month: designers and career goals

I'm stumbling onto some really great resources this week through recommendations and research, here are some interesting book-design-related finds of note from this week that I've taken inspiration from:


Ted Talk with Chip Kidd

 

Chip Kidd is a successful book designer and this TED talk was a really interesting look at book marketing, and also a pretty entertaining piece of media. Chip talks about the relationship between design and marketing in a fresh and accessible way, and his story is inspiring for a sapling publisher like myself. 'Not treating your audience like a moron' is something I'll definitely take on board through to my future cover designs, and I think it's pretty transferable to all visual industries. 

 

 

Interview with Suzanne Dean - art director at Random House

 

The ways in which publishers decide to re-animate their backlist really interests me. Art Director Suzanne Dean talks in detail in this interview about her re-designs for titles like Psycho and The Man with the Golden Gun. I particularly like the fact that the designs have a running aesthetic, and Suzanne states in the interview that it was important that the 'visuals cohere'. I think this adds a sense of ownership to the backlist on the publishers' behalf, and enhances marketability by building such a visually contemporary collection. 

The lesson today pushed me to utilise InDesign like never before, and I was able -through careful coaching by the brilliant Becky Chilcott - to design both picture and hardback book covers at the end of the lesson.