This week Neil Gaiman’s MAKE GOOD ART Book came out (which was designed by Chip Kidd) and one cool thing to happen is that the Philadelphia Weekly not only did a great interview all about the creation of this book, but they put Neil’s face on the cover! Oddly, this is only the second time that has happened (the first was on WIRED Magazine).

Neil Gaiman was interviewed by Kyle Cassidy. The article covers many topics all related to the new MAKE GOOD ART book like how did the, now famous, graduation Speech even come about and what prompted the creation of this book. It’s a great interview with this fun Author. Here’s a LINK to check it out, just CLICK HERE!

Author James Ellroy joins Walter Kirn on BylinerTV for a conversation where nothing is restrained and the boundaries of polite conversation are obliterated.

Ellroy testifies to the vile and glorious corners of L.A., and shares his visions of history without refracting the present day. With all the confidence of a shotgun blast, he tears through the politically correct limits on discussion and breathes fire with each admission and opinion. From his roots in writing, crime, fame fascination and current events, it’s an interview that could be measured on the Richter scale.

NPR Radio’s Talk of the Nation recently interviewed Neil Gaiman about his latest Graduation Gift book titled, “Neil Gaiman’s MAKE GOOD ART Speech”. The new book, designed by Chip Kidd and published by Harper Collins, is set to be released on Wednesday, May 15th, 2013.

Click here to listen to the NPR Radio Interview with Neil Gaiman:

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To celebrate the launch of Neil Gaiman’s “MAKE GOOD ART“ Speech Book Neil Gaiman and Chip Kidd will both appear at the OBERON in Cambridge (Boston) on Wednesday, June 5th, 2013 at 6:30pm.

Literary legend Neil Gaiman (American Gods, The Sandman, Stardust & soon to be, Ocean at the End of the Lane: a Novel), in his wonderful 2012 commencement address at the University of the Arts in Pennsylvania, encouraged graduates to do one thing, even in the worst of times: Make Good Art. Gaiman– who has written novels, short fiction, comic books, screenplays, children’s books, and graphic novels– and Chip Kidd, who designed the innovative cover and interior for the published book based on the speech, convene at the Oberon to discuss Gaiman's unconventional career path, prodigious output, and the bravery and creativity that goes into making good art. This special, intimate evening presents a rare encounter with one of contemporary literature’s most creative minds alongside the top graphic designer in publishing. They will discuss their own artistic processes and pass along advice for how to Make Good Art. Tickets are $25, which includes a copy of MAKE GOOD ART with a book signing to follow the conversation.

For Ticket Information please CLICK HERE!

Also, CLICK HERE to preview a sampling of Make Good Art‘s fantastically stylized interior.

Chip Kidd, Associate Art Director at Knopf Books, Peter Mendelsund, Art Director for Pantheon Press, and Stephen Doyle, Creative Director, Doyle Partners; Design Contributor, New York Times and Wired, discuss whether cutting edge visual design can save the print industry. The talk is moderated by Darhil Crooks, Creative Director for the Atlantic, and way down below is the video-taped footage of the event.

Date: Tuesday, May 7th, 2013
Location: New York Historical Society, NYC

The first Speaker is Chip Kidd and he starts out talking a little bit about working with Neil Gaiman on Neil’s new book, MAKE GOOD ART : Neil Gaiman’s Speech Book. Which, by the way, is coming out on Wednesday, May 15th. Yes, that’s tomorrow! Very quickly, Chip Kidd gives a preview of what the book will look like, discusses some of the design ideas and concepts, and then (in a very sneaky way) he shamelessly plugs his own book that is coming out in October of 2013. We’re talking about his “Teaching Graphic Art to Kids” Book which is titled, “GO! A KIDD’S GUIDE TO GRAPHIC DESIGN“.

Then, next-up is Peter Mendelsund who quickly shares an amazing assortment of some of his work. Like Chip, he mainly designs book covers. But his graphic art has an interesting twist. He designs jackets for new books that are expected to be bestsellers AND he creates new covers for old classics, what they call the “back list”, and it’s all really great stuff like: Franz Kafka, Dante, Plato, Simone De Beauyoir, James Joyce, etc…

Peter also makes a shameless plug for his brand-new Design Book coming out in the Spring of 2014 titled, “COVER” by Peter Mendelsund. It looks pretty cool!

Then, the last guest (last, but NOT least) is Stephen Doyle who shares an amazing art-concept movie he created called CIPHER. This was a project he worked on with some Students and the end result is pretty interesting. He also discusses recent trends in publishing & print media.

Design for change. Design for good. Design for a better world.

These are the premises that fuel DESIGN INDABA. Their goal is for a better world through design, creativity and innovation.

Chip Kidd spoke at their 2011 event and while in Barcelona he stumbled across a caf decorated with book covers that he had designed. He found this both strange… and rather great!

BOOKSCOUT provides readers with personalized book recommendations based on people's Facebook timelines. The app also recommends popular titles - published by both Random House, Inc. and non Random House, Inc. imprints — readers are Liking, sharing, and adding to their bookshelves within the app. It also presents bestsellers from all publishers broken out by category, based on industry sales data.

Information about people's interests from their Facebook timelines is incorporated into the personal recommendations, and Liking books via the app helps create more tailored suggestions - the more books and interests users Like, the better the recommendations will be. Recommendations feature titles from all publishers, and include links to major retailers so people can easily purchase print books and eBooks they're interested in.

Readers can create and organize their own digital bookshelves, sharing what they're currently reading with their Facebook friends, tagging books they'd like to read, and keeping track of books they've read. People can also see what their friends are reading, encouraging organic word-of-mouth recommendations.

"Word of mouth is the number one way readers learn and get enthusiastic about books they want to read," says Amanda Close, Random House's Senior Vice President, Digital Marketplace Development. "By creating BookScout, Random House is helping to encourage conversations about books on Facebook, and broaden the social discovery of books in the digital space."

BOOKSCOUT is the latest initiative in Random House's in-house-developed efforts to guide readers in book discovery, including web verticals like Word & Film, Everyday eBook, Biographile and Suvudu, each of which feature interviews, news and reviews of books in their respective categories, and partnerships with Politico, Epicurious and Publishers Lunch to integrate books and authors onto their sites.

For more information about BookScout and to install the app, please CLICK HERE!

Back in 2006 Chip Kidd was in Berlin and while there he did an extensive interview with a podcast that is well known for talking about design issues. Of course we’re talking about TYPE RADIO. The historic thing about the event was that it was Typeradio’s very first interview that was allowed to be conducted in the nude, and Chip Kidd looked very good ( Joking, just kidding! ).

In the three podcast clips down below Chip Kidd talks about his obsessions, superstitions. What makes a good book cover, design versus sales. Differences between American and European book covers, and much much more.

We also want to thank TYPERADIO.ORG for a great set of interviews and we also want to invite people to visit their website. Once you get there you will discover a TON of great material. Thanks, just CLICK HERE!

 
Part One:

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Part Two:

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Part Three:

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I thought this would be a good idea for a post, just posting some of the many book review videos that have been done for Chip Kidd’s Graphic Novel, BATMAN: DEATH BY DESIGN (DC Comics). The interesting thing about “video reviews” is that, since the format is so visual, the reviewers can also focus quite well on the amazing artwork of Dave Taylor. Besides the compelling storyline, the book’s other main interest is that the art is also a very enjoyable part of the book. So, this is really cool. Thanks to everybody who took the time to create these videos.

As a side note:

One of the videos (the 4th one) is an “Audio Only” Interview with Chip Kidd that was done BEFORE the book came out. So, in contrast to the other ones, which were obviously done by readers of the actual book, it’s kind of interesting. Hey, here they are… please enjoy.

Last year, around February, Chip Kidd was in Texas to speak at a special lecture given at the Dallas Museum of Art. So, to promote the event he got the chance to talk with the crazy guys over at FANBOY RADIO. ( We mean “crazy” in a good way, they’re awesome!)

The cool thing is that you can tell that the people doing the interview either, did some amazing research, or they’re just honestly huge fans because their questions were really really clever. I mean, they discuss Graphic Design, Book Covers, Comic Books, Batman, and a few of Chip Kidd’s Books like – The Cheese Monkeys, The Learners, Batman: Death By Design, and much more.

OK, I know this podcast interview is “a year old”, but it’s actually still very timely today and it shares some really good insight into design and other issues. So, please enjoy… oh yeah, and please share it with everybody you know

THANK YOU FANBOY RADIO!

CLICK HERE TO HEAR IT LIVE:

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