When Chronicle Books decided to produce a book to celebrate its 50th anniversary, all sorts of questions were raised: What kind of book is the ultimate Chronicle book? How do you represent fifty years of publishing in one small book? Should it be serious and elegant or should it embrace the whimsy Chronicle is known for? Etc. With a lot of discussion, a lot of experimentation, a lot of research, and relying on the long memories of several employees who have been at the company for most of its existence, Chronicle Books: The First Fifty Years began to take shape as a small, classy, gift book that focuses on the company's output. Basically, let the art from the books and the books themselves do most of the visual talking, with little dips into the wonderful company culture, infographics about our operations accomplishments, and some good old fashioned silliness.

For the cover, the entire design department got together and brainstormed fun ways to package the book that were special enough to reflect Chronicle's wonderful production skills and visually exciting output. The winning idea was to have the covers of 50 of our key books peeking out through diecut holes in the front and back cover, resulting in an intriguing and colorful cover, with a rewarding reveal of the full covers when you open the book.