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Design Category
Book design, 2000
Design firm
Alfred A. Knopf Publishers (New York, New York)
Collection
(2001) 50 Books/50 Covers of 2000
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As editor of this book my role was to leave Chris Ware free of the dull restrictions and hand-wringing anxieties that are usually imposed on book designers working for large corporations. In this respect I was mostly successful, but not without hair-raising moments—such as gently explaining to the editor-in-chief of Knopf why this jacket not only omitted the author’s name from the front (Mr. Ware is famously self-effacing) but also deconstructed the title into a kaleidescopic whirl. Ultimately he agreed that it was so beautiful and ingeniously conceived that it didn’t matter. And we were right—the book is in its fourth printing.