The Cheese Monkeys
The Book
There were about three reactions I had to this book – what the heck, that’s hilarious, and that is a really, really good point. The author’s voice was so quirky, honest, and real, despite the fact that the words and phrases are never ones that people use in normal conversations. He catches you off guard with the way he thinks, and talks, and most of all, the way he sees things. It’s as if we are seeing the world through his eyes. It makes sense that he would write this novel very visually, given the subject. However, I think he goes above and beyond, which makes the novel successful and interesting. One of my favorite images that he paints with his words is that of the Skeller. There is this dark, grimy imagery, intermixed with these beautiful phrases like, “The lightning bug in my honey jar,” and “No one looked at us. Sudden, freakish outbursts seemed welcome here,” (Kidd 51). These lines are like these little sparkling glimmers on the page. I also loved the idea of “The Difference” (Kidd 167), because I totally connected. I think as designers or artists, there is always that point when you start to notice the lack of attention the world around you places on such seemingly trivial things like design. Another image I thought was really vivid was in the end with the fish swimming around in the bowl in the midst of the emotional critique, and the phone with Himillsy’s voice fading farther away.
The Reaction
The Cheese Monkeys: Impressions and Images
Inspiration
During our trip to the library, I was inspired by these book covers. Most of the covers I was drawn to were simple and graphic. Shapes and patterns were used in interesting ways. I took elements of each of these covers into my final design.
Inspiration
Inspiration
Sketches
Let the sketching begin! After gaining inspiration from the library, I drew many, many, sketches. I based my designs off of the images that stood out to me the most from “The Cheese Monkeys� (see reaction section).
Sketches In my sketches, I utilized the rule of thirds and the Fibonacci sequence.
Sketches To narrow the scope of my focus, I tried out different tones I got from the book, letting these feelings inform my design choices.
Sketches Here, I am starting to draw closer to my final design.
Sketches
Reference Above are a few reference images I looked up on-line. To the right are the stages of my firefly/honey jar illustration. I constructed these in Illustrator. I separated the final illustration into different pieces so I could change the opacities easier than if it was grouped together. I decided to remove the lines in the jar, and make the opacity much lighter to make the jar look like it was made of actually glass.
Illustration
Digital Sketches
the
cheese
monkeys Chip Kidd
Lorrie Moore
“Kidd’s gifts as a designer are also his gifts as a writer: wit, exquisite taste, high energy, and a mad love for the things of this world. A wild ride through a unique consciousness.” , author of Pastoralia -
George Saunders
David Rakoff
chip kidd
“Chip Kidd has created in Winter Sorbeck and his vaunted course, Art 127, one of the most vivid, expert, hilarious, and strangely gripping accounts of what it means to learn how to see. If The Cheese Monkeys weren’t so intelligent, rollicking, and downright entertaining, it would be chastening indeed to find that someone as visually gifted as Mr. Kidd also turned out to have considerable verbal plumage as well.” , author of Fraud -
Chip Kidd
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a novel in two semesters
To the left are my three original digital sketches. These were shown at the preliminary critique. People liked the typography of the first design, the gradient of the second, and the jar that was simpler. Letting this serve as my guide, I changed up my design for the front cover, and then added the spine and the back cover for the next critique (as shown above).
Digital Sketches & Critique 1
James Ellroy
“The renowned graphic artist Chip Kidd has with The Cheese Monkeys shown us that there is nothing he cannot do. This, his bold first novel (an his readers will eagerly demand a second), is full of style and verve and nerve and spirit.” , author of Birds of America -
cheese
monkeys
“Art school in the ‘50’s--- for the first and probably definitive time. This wise, funny and ragingly shrewd first novel explodes all the myths of academia and brilliantly builds its own. The world’s greatest book-jacket designer finds a second spellbinding artistic voice.” , author of L.A. Confidential -
the
the cheese monkeys
a new york times Notable book
Critique 2 This is the printed copy for the second critique. As you can see, the type on the back is way too light to read. Also, the lines of text are really long. Additionally, the fireflies on the back were a little large.
During critique, I realized my leading was still messed up on the back, and the accreditation for the quotes wasn’t differentiated enough.
Critique 3
For the third critique, I grouped up the quotes on the back cover differently. I also made them bold (however, this ended up being a little too bright on the page.
Printed!
Print outs of my (almost!) final book cover design. This view makes it easier to see what this design would look like as an actual book. I also was able to correct the spacing for the spine after the printing.
Printed!
Final Cover
Final cover! Yay! The leading is fixed, the spine has room to breath, the UPC code is inverted, and each element has found it’s proper place. It was a long process, but in the end, I’m pleased with the final result.
Front Matter Start
The front matter in the original edition of “The Cheese Monkeys�.
Inspiration I liked the simplicity of this book’s front matter. It’s easy to see why the design is so clean: it’s about decluttering! An excellent example of design matching content.
By the Book I drew a lot of my layout order and design inspiration from our textbook, “A Type Primer�. The following images show the front matter spreads of this book.
By the Book
By the Book
Turning the Page
Turning the Page
Here are my original layouts of the front matter. As you can see, the text is WAY too big, and there isn’t enough contrast in the design.
Final Front Matter
The final front matter! I worked to create contrast and intrigue in the text. I also dropped in a few fireflies to relate more to the cover. I kept the simplicity of the design for the most part though. I like the clean look of these spreads.
Final Front Matter
Final Front Matter
Final Front Matter
Reflection
Reflection: One of the things I really enjoyed about this project was actually reading the book. I thought it was really interesting to read about art school in the 50s. It’s a lot different than the world of graphic design today! Yet, in many ways, I could relate to the experiences, frustrations, and excitements of these students. I also enjoyed the process of multiple critiques. I hadn’t ever had that many reviews on one piece of work! However, looking back, it definitely helped a ton. My design came a long way from where it first started. I think it was sometimes frustrating that the project lasted so long, because I was just ready to be done! But, as with all good things, it takes time. So, in the end, I was okay with the project lasting a while. Especially since I feel like I learned a lot about type design, and about making major/minor edits throughout the process.