The Man Who Turned Into Himself

Designer name to come

Any tale involving alternate universes should always have its characters wondering if their eyes are deceiving them, so this cover for a recent reissue passes the test. The yellow pupil? I like it, and I'm sure it looks great from across the bookstore, but I'm dying to know how many colors were cycled through before this was approved. My guess? At least 37.

U.S. vs. Them

Design by J. Wang

This is simple and rugged and beautiful in person, seeming almost like a still from a 1950s newsreel. And damn it if I didn't write down the designer's name. Someone help a blogger out? Buy this book from Amazon.com

Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System

Design by Carol Hayes

Written by a former policy analyst for Food First, Stuffed and Starved "show(s) how a few powerful distributors control the health of the entire world." What could have been a serviceable, two-dimensional, poster-themed cover becomes much more when that poster is hung in a shop window. For a serious analysis of a controversial topic, this is just guerrilla-ish enough. Buy this book from Amazon.com

What Chip Kidd's NY Times Looks Like; Mine Isn't Nearly As Interesting

Chip Kidd wonders aloud, and humorously, if the hand of God (and not just the hand of the paperboy) touched his New York Times. Read about it here.

New Ian Fleming Hardcovers

Illustrations by Michael Gillette

Wow. Just one of the 14 new Ian Fleming hardcovers from Penguin. And as usual, Penguin Senior Copywriter Colin Brush does a great job with the backstory. Check all of them out at the Penguin Blog. Fun use of the logo!

Bright Shiny Morning, US and UK editions

UK edition by Gray 318

New fiction from James Frey. Yes, that James Frey. Insert your own joke.

But on to the design: It seems almost axiomatic that a novel described as a "tour de force" sports a cover that is often well-crafted, but ultimately signifies very little. Indeed, what's a designer supposed to do with the story of:

"...a bright, ambitious young Mexican-American woman who allows her future to be undone by a moment of searing humiliation; a supremely narcissistic action-movie star whose passion for the unattainable object of his affection nearly destroys him; a couple, both nineteen years old, who flee their suffocating hometown and struggle to survive on the fringes of the great city; and an aging Venice Beach alcoholic whose life is turned upside down when a meth-addled teenage girl shows up half-dead outside the restroom he calls home."

Whew. I'm tired just reading the description. US on top; UK on bottom.

UPDATE: Designer of the UK edition Gray 318 says: "The type was drawn up first and then taken to a sign store and made up. The whole sign is about A2 size, so there are some incredibly intricate turns in there. A truly amazing skill." Thanks Jon!

Diversion Wednesday #17: Hey Kids, Who's Thirsty?

Kraft Foods really needs to talk to parents before they do something like this >>

The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart

Design by Paul Sahre

From the jacket: "Our country has become so polarized, so ideologically inbred, that people don't know and can't understand those who live just a few miles away."


Not sure if it comes across here, but there is a distinct Sims-like video game feel to this cover that suggests how easy it is for us to literally click-and-drag ourselves off to a comfortable oblivion of sameness and familiarity.

Read more about the book in a Texas Monthly interview with the author.

Buy this book from Amazon.com

One Minute to Midnight

Design by Jason Booher

The more I look at this, the more I really like it. A few questions:


1. Why are Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro facing forward, while LBJ (or RFK?) has his back turned? Students of history: does anything about LBJ's role in the Cuban Missile Crisis help explain this?

2. Such a Russian-looking design for (according to advance reviews) an even-handed, objective analysis. Resolved: there are very few design tropes that could have been used here that would have represented the American side of things and not mucked this up horribly. Discuss.

3. Is anyone else getting the overall impression of a playing card?

Buy this book from Amazon.com

Diversion Wednesday #16: How to Make $40 in 20 Seconds

Wherein Latham Sullivan learns how to shake his money maker >>