Photography by Ryan Pfluger at his home in New York on September 23, 2015. Styling by Amelia Schussler. Groomer: Angela DiCarlo.
What does a story look like? That's a question Chip Kidd has been asking himself since 1986, when he arrived at the art department of the august publishing house Knopf. Kidd, whose iconic book jackets include Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park, David Sedaris's Naked, and Haruki Murakami's 1Q84, likes to describe a book cover as "a haiku of the story." Some of those stories have been his own, including his coming-of-age novel, The Cheese Monkeys, and The Learners. His achievements in 2015 included delivering his second TED talk (1.3 million views at press time), being honored at Comic-Con with an Inkpot Award for Achievement in Comic Arts, and celebrating his 20th anniversary with his husband, poet and librettist J.D. McClatchy. This fall he also published Only What's Necessary, a coffee table book on the art of Charles Schulz. Says Kidd, "I'd been working on that for three years, so it's gratifying to see it finally become a thing."
