Chip Kidd's Work Gets Rejected Just Like Mine
by Adrian Hanft, (11 comments)
I drove to Denver last night to hear Chip Kidd speak at an AIGA Colorado event. While I might not be as big of a Chip Kidd fanatic as some of the other BADG aurthors, the chance to hear a graphic design celebrity speak doesn’t happen often and it was definitely worth the $20 non-member fee. His lecture lasted an hour and fifteen minutes and was really entertaining. He talked about his comic book obsession, his new book, working with Paul Simon, and described two important design lessons. The most interesting part of his presentation, however, was a 28 minute section where he describes some of his work that was rejected last year. Chip said, “There seems to be a misconception that everything I do just sails right through and nothing ever gets rejected or cancelled or anything and that is simply not true.” I found this to be both encouraging and discouraging at the same time. On one hand it is reassuring to know that even Chip Kidd comes against resistence when he presents good design solutions. On the other hand it sucks to think that we will never escape the tyranny of client rejection - even if we become living legends. What kind of an idiot would stand over Chip Kidd’s shoulder and tell him how too improve a book cover?!
For your listening enjoyment I made some mp3s of Chip Kidd’s lecture. If you don’t want to listen to the whole thing, at least check out this chunk where he talks about his rejected work: Chip Kidd - rejected work excerpt, 11mb
For you hardcore Kidd fans with an hour+ to burn, here is the entire lecture: Chip Kidd - complete lecture, AIGA Colorado event, January 11, 2007, 31mb
Afterwards I introduced myself to Chip and thanked him for commenting on our site. I handed him one of Bennett’s letterpressed business cards and invited him to be a guest on our podcast. Chip seemed open to the idea, so keep your fingers crossed!
Comments (11)
Gregory Borden said:
Adrian,
Good Stuff. Thanks for sharing Chip Kidd’s speech with us via MP3. It’s nice to hear such a renowned designer and the trials they go through too. Kudos!
Posted on January 11, 2007
Nate Voss said:
I hate, hate, hate not being able to see what he’s talking about. Grrrrr. I am jealous.
Posted on January 11, 2007
Adrian said:
Nate, Yeah Chip’s slides were pretty cool. I took some photos, but as you can imagine the lights were off and they barely turned out. Sorry.
Posted on January 11, 2007
davidthedesigner said:
Sorry, but I’ve never heard of Chip Kidd.
Surely that’s Woody Allen on the mp3?
Posted on January 11, 2007
Joe Moran said:
Chip — the eternal flame. What a wild man! Nice guy, as far as I’m concerned.
VR/
Posted on January 11, 2007
L-Fo said:
My discouragement doesn’t come from just knowing that “it sucks to think that we will never escape the tyranny of client rejection”, but rather Chips rejected ideas are probably better than my accepted ideas half of the time ;-)
Posted on January 12, 2007
PixelHustler said:
I’m confused…I listened to the mp3, and then hit Google to see what else I could find out about Mr. Kidd, and I found this site:
http://blog.fawny.org/2005/10/27/ckone/
The date on it is 2005, and it seems like the same speech/conference that I just listened to. Any ideas?
Posted on January 12, 2007
mydarndest said:
Thanks for the audio. Couple things: 1) Hey… Get on board and become a member of AIGA. 2) Massimo Vignelli HATES Chip Kidd… he told me so. cheers!
Posted on January 12, 2007
Adrian said:
PixelHustler, That is interesting. Looks like Chip has been refining his routine for a while.
Posted on January 12, 2007
Adelie said:
PixelHustler,
I believe Mr. Kidd has been refining his talk for a while. I didn’t listen to the audio, but the description from Adrian (and from a different talk a few months ago), sound very similar to one I heard about a year ago.
Posted on January 14, 2007
HughFire said:
I think that one of the things we also need to take from it is that no matter how great we become the process is never just about us. We have clients for a reason and our work needs to be seen as a partnership. Sure we know design, what sells, what the concept is, etc., but when it comes down to it - no matter how good the work is, if the client doesn’t like it - its just a museum piece. We’ve touched upon similar issues when discussing logo re-design on this forum that designers should just be allowed to design, but it doesn’t really work that way. You wouldn’t like it if your hairdresser for instance didn’t want your input and approval on your hairstyle - its kinda the same thing. So whether or not it becomes the challenge of selling the idea to a client or just refining to suit them - it is still a partnership. I’ve told clients before that I don’t want to greenlight something they are not satisfied with simply for the sake of time, money, or my ego. They have to live with it. If they don’t “get it” as close as they are to a business or product - how likely is the audience going to get it when they have no such intimate knowledge?
Thanks for the great download - it is on my ipod and made my commute much nicer.
Posted on January 15, 2007