Tag: Peter Mendelsund

The Inside Random House series has released another video. This one gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the publisher’s offices as book designers explain their creative processes and the experience of creating covers for some of the world’s best-known authors. What’s great about this video is that we get to see some of the best book cover designers in the business, people like Chip Kidd and Peter Mendelsund of Knopf, Robbin Schiff of Random House, and Marysarah Quinn and Christopher Brand of Crown. Chip Kidd at one point picks up a manuscript and stresses the importance of a close reading of the text in order to understand how to approach its design. Aspiring designers can learn a lesson from the cover outtakes featured in the video, such as the multiple attempts required for The Dinner by Herman Koch; All That Is by James Salter; Salt, Sugar, Fat by Michael Moss; and Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish by David Rakoff. The video is not only insightful but entertaining too.