Love this simple book graphic featured in the latest issue of Matériel. Graphic by Steven Reimuth (I’d link to his site but there’s nothing on it.)
Advertising on The Book Cover Archive
I’ve just posted a few thoughts on whether or not it is legitimate to feature advertising the Book Cover Archive.
If this topic is of interest to you, head over there and let me know what you think.
January 11th, 2010 by Pieratt | 3 Comments »
The YouWorkForThem Book Archive
I admit I shed a mental tear when YouWorkForThem announced they were killing off its book section for good, so I rejoiced a bit when they released the Book Archive this morning. A massive collection of all the books you were always trying to get your relatives to buy you for the holidays.
Semirelated: you may have heard that Mike Cina left YWFT/WWFT. An amazingly talented guy, I’m sure he’ll blow us all away with his solo work sooner than later.
January 11th, 2010 by Pieratt | No Comments »
“50 Most Captivating Covers of All Time”
Online Universities(.com) has a post about their favorite covers of all time. Lots of the usual suspects with a few classics interjected here and there.
January 7th, 2010 by Pieratt | 3 Comments »
Los Angeles Times Festival of Books 2006
By Way Shape From, 2006
December 31st, 2009 by Pieratt | No Comments »
Christopher Brand has a new site
Lovely new site. Talented SOB.

December 30th, 2009 by Pieratt | 2 Comments »
Random button
We added a “random” function to the Archive last week. I have to say that it is pretty glorious.
December 28th, 2009 by Pieratt | No Comments »
Explosions in the sky
Quick, someone use this on something. A collage of fireworks compiled from over 50 photos
December 28th, 2009 by Pieratt | No Comments »
Creative Superstore Artist Notepads
Love this artist series from the Creative Superstore. Illustrations by Ed Templeton, Tim Biskup, Cleon Peterson, Marke Newton, Deedee Cheriel and Ramsey Dau.



December 22nd, 2009 by Pieratt | 1 Comment »
Stefanie Posavec art print
20×200 will be selling a print by book cover designer (among other things) Stefanie Posavec later today.
A Literary Organism was first used in a project where I explored methods of visualizing the writing style of Jack Kerouac in On the Road. For this piece, I analyzed Benjamin’s essay for word count per sentence and by themes within its structure, and I did it all by hand. Some people knit, I enjoy the act of painstakingly analyzing text with a pen and a highlighter, as to me, the process of gathering the data is as equally important as the visual outcome.
The print will be available in a few hours, with a special coupon code embedded somewhere in 20×200’s mailing list.
The print:

Some more of Posavec’s work:


December 9th, 2009 by Pieratt | No Comments »
The Spook House
An amazing student project from designer Tom Petty (best URL ever?)
…I therefore decided to hand-draw the type in a traditional style seen on signs of the period, so I had to cut all of the letters by hand with a scalpel out of 400 gsm (140 lb) board and run it through a traditional press.
See more over at For Print Only.


Thanks Alison!
November 24th, 2009 by Pieratt | 3 Comments »
Top Ten of Covers of the ’00s
To summarize a decade’s worth of brilliant design with 20 covers is little more than an exercise in futility. We can all agree, however, that the best part of passing into a new digit bracket is the lists that come with it. This collection is little more than a representation of my own tastes, but I tried to choose works which were representative of their respective years.
I beat myself up quite a bit when putting this together, but there are still a handful of notables worth mentioning:
- Any of gray318’s covers for Safran Foer.
- Any of Kidd or Gall’s covers for Murakami
- Anything from Henry Sene Yee
- Anything from Paul Buckley or Darren Haggar over at Penguin US.

The Abomination, Chip Kidd
Art Direction by Carol Devine Carson
Runner-up
Faster, Jamie Keenan
Art Direction by John Gall
A General Theory of Love, John Gall
Photographer, Boris Schmalenberger
Runner-Up
The Darkness and The Light, Chip Kidd
The Egg Code, Evan Gaffney
Art Direction by Carol Devine Carson
Runner-up
Lullaby, Rodrigo Corral
Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid on Earth, Chris Ware
Runner-up
Oryx And Crake, John Gall
A Shortcut Through Time, Peter Buchanan-Smith
Runner-up
Killing the Buddha, Paul Sahre
Photograph by Jason Fulford
Murder, gray318
Representative of the Penguin 70th anniversary box set.
Runner-up
Book One, Mark Melnick
Art Direction by Chip Kidd
The Prisoner of Guantanamo, John Gall
Runner-up
Race Riots, David Drummond
Exile and the Kingdom, Helen Yentus
Art Direction by John Gall
Representative of the Camus Series
Runner-up
One Perfect Day, Evan Gaffney
Art direction by Darren Haggar
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, David Pearson
Representative of the Penguin Great Ideas series.
Runner-up
Obsession, Isaac Tobin
Illustration by Lauren Nassef
The Way Through Doors, Helen Yentus, Jason Booher
Art Direction by John Gall
Runner-up
The Original of Laura, Chip Kidd
- – - – - – - –
Feel free to tell me how wrong I am in the comments.
November 16th, 2009 by Pieratt | 45 Comments »
Ice on the Moon Ice on the Moon
In honor of this momentous occasion, I give you two great covers:


Photograph by Mike Venables. Seen at CCC.
November 13th, 2009 by Pieratt | No Comments »

































