Comments on: Chip Kidd: Partially Exposed

By: Bennett

Bennett — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 21:33:42 +0000

I think the term “good” can be very easily interchanged with average. i.e. “Good enough” I agree that it is more of a statement about being “Great” and not just good. I can’t say that I love the phrase. “good is dead”, but I doubt Chip really cares what most people think. He would probably rather ruffle up some feathers and get a discussion going. Make people scratch their heads. I’m not sure if it makes the most sense for a website, but I wasn’t offended. At least when you go to chipkidd.com it redirects you to goodisdead.com. Chip Kidd is predictably unpredictable.

By: DC1974

DC1974 — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 18:07:24 +0000

Simanek seems to have it right based on the Cheese Monkey review at Eye. Although, I would add that Kidd is big here too. And certainly among design students coming out right now. I'd also ad that I'm not sure that you understand Japanese culture really well, but that's another thought entirely.

By: Adrian

Adrian — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 17:16:04 +0000

I guess that makes sense. In the context of Cheese Monkeys, it seemed to be a more dark and subversive message. (We debate that here.) Just as a web address, it doesn't give us much context to understand what it means. I guess the reason it bothers me is because I don't think of the word "good" to mean "average." For me, something is either good or it isn't. Married with that is a moral commitment to strive for good (as opposed to evil) in everything I do. In that context, I find the statement "Good is Dead" to be personally offensive. I guess it shouldn't bother me if Kidd doesn't mean it that way. Still, I would like to hear that definition from Kidd before I accept it off as a "good is the enemy of great" statement.

By: leMel

leMel — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 00:42:57 +0000

Um…he’s branding.

By: Simanek

Simanek — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 00:09:09 +0000

He is saying that what has been considered ‘good’ design in the past he doesn’t consider ‘good’ anymore. Perhaps if what is good looks like something that already exists, then the term ‘good’ really means ‘familiar, accepted and agreed upon by people that know as correct’. (Such as the ‘appropriate’ use of ligatures and em and en dashes, for example.) He’s a self-proclaimed avant-garde designer. He’s saying that he’s not just a ‘good’ designer, but a designer that is making something altogether new and different that, to the uneducated eye, might not look ‘good’. Pretty standard Modern art philosophy. Most likely he’s big in Japan.

By: DC1974

DC1974 — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 16:56:37 +0000

Perhaps its a play on the old aphorism “good is the enemy of great” combined with a play on God is Dead?! Just thinking out loud here.

By: Adrian

Adrian — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 00:32:48 +0000

It really bugs me that his website is “Good is Dead.” Other than Cheese Monkeys, has anyone seen another place where he talks about or explains that phrase?