A Chip Off the Ol' Blockhead / J/Kiddin' . . .

Chip Kidd had a profound effect on the modern novel long before he ever sat down to write one. In the late '80s, Kidd joined the publishing house Alfred A. Knopf as a junior design assistant, where he soon exhibited a gift for book-jacket design.

In this piece, Hot Chip, Andre Mayer reveals some of the finer tips and pointers surrounding the creation of eye-catching covers (and demonstrates that, since Art raised the validity and appropriateness of same, the subject's been on the minds of many lit-types).

Incidentally, Mr. Kidd created the blood-crimson cover for Cormac McCarthy's bovie: