book jacket genius... among other things

i found this link via poppytalk (who found it via door sixteen)... not only is chip kidd the author and designer of one of my favorite books of all time, but - to be perfectly frank - he is just cool as shit. (please do not ask me to explain the level of cool that shit possesses... just take it as 'he is extremely, extremely cool.')

when i was in architecture school, a guy i met at a penny poker game suggested that i should pick up the cheese monkeys: a novel in two semesters, primarily because he thought that the cover design was so freaking cool... while i completely agreed that the book is the most impressively-designed book i have seen, i also found that the writing itself was incredibly compelling... though it may have been something i appreciated all the more simply because i was in the middle of design-school-hell. nevertheless, i and everyone that i know who has read it, flew through the pages faster than a speeding bullet.

there is this wonderful part of the book - and i cannot tell you where to find it in the pages because it is sadly in storage in the states where i cannot put my hands on it - where mr. kidd describes a design critique... i think that this is something that can only be really, truly appreciated by someone who has had to stand up in front of ump-teen critics (more analogous to a firing squad than anything else i can imagine), with your work displayed behind you (the product of countless hours and near-nervous-breakdowns, i.e. your heart and soul, blood, sweat, and tears... not to mention sacrificed sleep, social life, love life, sanity...), while these people - most likely to be complete strangers with a much-too-obvious sense of self-importance - attempt to tear you and your work apart for 45 minutes to an hour (on average).

i watched this one critique when i was in my fourth year (out of five) of architecture school, in absolute wonder as this heinously bitchy (but apparently very prominent) woman actually tried to get one of my classmates to cry. afterwards, i went to the coffee shop during one of the breaks that day to refuel and i ended up behind her in line... she was talking on the phone and was actually pissed off that she hadn't gotten said colleague to shed tears. she then loudly complained that she was 'losing her stuff.' pfffff. argh. pishaw. it made me so angry, i could have clawed her eyes out right there in front of the pastry display... but i maintained composure.

i am rambling... anyhow, the book is fantastic, the author and designer is one of my heroes... and i thought that i would share a little piece of my inspiration with you, my few readers.

happy tuesday.