Chip Kidd & John Gall

Chip Kidd

Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, Kidd grew up in the Reading suburb of Shillington, strongly influenced by American popular culture.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. Publishers Weekly described his book jackets as "creepy, striking, sly, smart, unpredictable covers that make readers appreciate books as objects of art as well as literature." USA Today also called him "the closest thing to a rock star" in graphic design today, while author James Ellroy has called him “the world’s greatest book-jacket designer.His book jacket designs for Alfred A. Knopf (where he is associate art director) have helped spawn a revolution in the art of American book packaging. His work has been featured inVanity Fair, Eye, Print, Entertainment Weekly, The New Republic, Time, Graphis, New York, andID magazines, and he is a regular contributor of visual commentary to the Op-Ed page of The New York Times.

John Gall

Born in 1963 in New Jersey and a graduate of the design department at Rutgers University, Gall brought along his own original and idiosyncratic design sense—and most especially literary intelligence. Recently, in addition to Vintage, Gall assumed the helm of another venerable imprint, Anchor Books, the oldest trade paperback publisher in America, founded in 1953 by Jason Epstein.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.

These two book designers really try to understand the voice of the work that they are making the cover for. They really try to capture the essence of the work. Each design is revolutionary. John Gall tries to give each of his book covers a surprise twist that somehow capture the idea of the book.