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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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!

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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The University of the Arts is excited to present “Make Good Art: A Conversation and Book Signing with Neil Gaiman” on Tuesday, May 14th at 7 p.m. in Levitt Auditorium, at Gershman Hall. Also, UArts is located in Philadelphia, PA.

Neil Gaiman is an award-winning author and graphic novelist whose 2012 commencement speech to UArts graduates became an international viral sensation. Gaiman’s speech urged graduates to “make good art” and resonated with creative people around the world. The book, MAKE GOOD ART, which will be released later this month, contains the full text of that speech and was designed by book designer Chip Kidd. (Chip Kidd will NOT be at the event, this post is for Neil’s Fans).

A limited number of free tickets are available exclusively to UArts students, faculty and staff, ONE PER PERSON. Students will be able to pick up tickets in Gershman Hall, Room 304, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., starting Monday, May 6 through Friday, May 10. STUDENT ID IS REQUIRED for pickup.

Faculty and staff will be able to pick up tickets in the Advancement Office on the first floor of Hamilton Hall from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday, May 6 through Friday, May 10. Please show your UArts ID when picking up your tickets.

The evening of May 14 will consist of a Q-and-A session between Gaiman and UArts President Sean Buffington, then Gaiman will answer audience questions culled from note cards that will be filled out and collected prior to the start of the event. Doors will open at 6 p.m., with copies of MAKE GOOD ART on sale before and after the question-and-answer session. Gaiman will be available afterward to sign copies of MAKE GOOD ART
(as many copies of the book as each attendee purchases, and up to two other Neil Gaiman titles).

Again, please keep in mind that this event is exclusively for members of the UArts community, with one ticket per person on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, please CLICK HERE!

Cartoonist and MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Fellowship winner Ben Katchor was recently interviewed by Gil Roth in a episode of “The Virtual Memories Show” Podcast. The main focus was Ben Katchor’s brand-new graphic novel recently published by Pantheon Books in 2013 titled, HAND-DRYING IN AMERICA AND OTHER STORIES, which collects his monthly comic page from Metropolis magazine. During this special episode, Ben even “performs” several of his comics. Plus, he gives us all some really great insight into his creative process. Also, as a side-note, we should mention that this book cover was designed by Chip Kidd.

We have embedded the podcast down below, but for even MORE information we suggest a visit to VIRTUAL MEMORIES.

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Ben Katchor
Hand Drying in America and Other Stories
Pantheon Books / Random House
ISBN 978-0-307-90690-8
160 Pages

HARPER COLLINS, the Book Publisher responsible for bringing Neil Gaiman and Chip Kidd together to create a wonderful new book all based on Neil Gaiman’s insanely great “MAKE GOOD ART” Speech, has just placed an incredible special PREVIEW of the first few pages to give you an idea on the basic concept of what the book’s interior will look like. Hey, you can view this sneak-peek by clicking RIGHT HERE!

Also, The book is set to not come out until May 18th, but if you CLICK HERE you can pre-order it at a special price. Thanks!

We just discovered a really great website recently called the MONKEY ART AWARDS and it’s main focus is celebrating achievement in the entertainment advertising arts and sciences, whew! Another way to put it, it’s a very clever, funny & informative site where they cover ideas relating to Art Direction & Graphic Design.

Here’s an example. Check out these totally hilarious “Vintage Pulp Paperback Book Covers” that anyone in this field can relate too, funny stuff! To enjoy more of their wacky crazy antics please CLICK HERE!