Xavier Cruz
CDMG1111
Chip Kidd
A major influence in people’s lives come from the ground structure of what got them to start in the first place. These influences can be found all throughout history as a person can take inspiration at any given time. This has happened to me as when I wanted to strive for a better future for myself, I couldn’t help but look around for motivation to do better, that is when a certain person, helped shape my future as I was inspired to pursue in the field I am in today. The person who I think of as a major influence to me would be Chip Kidd. I chose this person as I felt as if the inspiration of my own work comes his ideas of past creations that he has done. He takes so many different thoughts that he has when he is inspired to create the many covers that he did for the companies that he has worked for that it is honestly quite impressive what he has been able to accomplish in his time working in such a generally competitive field since not just anyone is able to do what he can.
Charles (Chip) Kidd works in the field of graphic, he is very well known as he has made a lot of influential book covers. He was best known for making amazing book jackets and worked with many others in his field. The reason that I was able to know about him was because he created one of the most iconic book covers in media which was the poster of “Jurassic Park”, I was very intrigued by his designs that he created and it surprised me even more, that he had much more under his belt than initially thought. He relates so much to my major as he shows the grasp of design in his work that inspires my own work. I’m also very interested in how he has done so many others forms of design from novels, comics and music which goes to shows his passion was not limited to just design which I appreciated a whole much more than someone who is less open minded to the idea. He has created hundreds of great designs that range to all different types of style. It just goes to show how broad his knowledge is and how nothing but more experience come from every job he continues to dohe was responsible for 75 book covers a year. He is still employed at Knopf, an imprint of Random House, where he is an art director. He also oversees the production of comic book covers. His interest in comic books, graphic novels and pop culture has been a large influence on his work. Kidd has a very humble attitude and never accepted credit for his work. An example of this, when “he declared that he made his career on the back of authors and that he is fortunate to work on Cormac McCarthy’s books and not the other way round. Moreover, he confessed to be a huge fan of comic books, especially Batman series”. In fact, he has designed book covers and wrote several of DC Comics. The comic books include The Golden days of DC comics: 365 Days, Superman, The Complete History of Batman and Wonder Woman. Alex Ross illustrated one of the exclusive Batman/Superman stories that Kidd restored. This is also something that appreciate very much about him as he takes inspiration from the things that he enjoyed the most and took those ideas to make it into his own
He has published two books called “Cheese Monkeys” and “The Learners”, both of which he designed himself. The typography within the book is used to subtly to which no one would be able to notice; make points alongside the narrative. His highly productive career has allowed him to work with many celebrities and authors, including Frank Miller, Dean Koontz, John Updike and David Sedaris. Kidd’s own design process is more art than science. First, he reads the book. Then he uses what he calls “the magpie method,” which is: “picking, choosing, borrowing things that have been done before.” The process, Kidd claims, is “driven by nothing.” With success, or at least notoriety, Kidd has earned the right to take some risks and decides of his own free will to even take some of those risks, even if the results could take quite the turn.” There is a process that Kidd confronts every time he designs a book jacket: Are the jackets effective because the designer knows what he is doing or are they merely the window dressing wrapping the work of today’s best writers? Kidd’s influences run from the legendary designers Alvin Lustig, James Laughlin and Peter Saville to Russian constructivists. Using what is learned from these people, Kidd learned that the best style is no style. Kidd states that, “A signature look is crippling, often, the simplest and most effective solutions aren’t dictated by style.”  His book covers continue to influence designers and pop culture and many of them are widely imitated. All these are reasons to why I aspire to be just like him and release the creativity in order to one day produce as many works as him.
In conclusion, Chip Kidd is a very inspiring graphic designer who has accomplished so much in his career. I hope that I can do as much as him and hopefully, with time, I’ll have the experience necessary to accomplish this goal as it would be very amazing for this happen. He was able to accomplish so much with the previous works that I have mentioned and how he able to do so much is a mystery of its own. Nethertheless it is a goal any person striving to join the field should try for.
