--- title: Chip Kidd Judges 6 Books By Their Covers description: The award-winning book designer picks some of his all-time favorites canonical: https://time.com/3912453/chip-kidd-book-covers/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-11T19:43:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:10.040Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Chip Kidd Judges 6 Books By Their Covers og:description: The award-winning book designer picks some of his all-time favorites og:url: https://time.com/3912453/chip-kidd-book-covers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Chip Kidd Judges 6 Books By Their Covers twitter:description: The award-winning book designer picks some of his all-time favorites twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Chip Kidd Judges 6 Books By Their Covers > Sponsored content. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jun 11, 2015 7:43 PM UTC by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jun 11, 2015 7:43 PM UTC If anyone knows how to judge a book by its cover, it’s Chip Kidd. The longtime Knopf graphic designer is behind countless iconic covers, including Michael Crichton’s _Jurassic Park_, David Sedaris’ _Naked_ and Haruki Murakami’s _1Q84_, and has an eye for creating startling jackets to convey a book’s content. “A good book jacket both invites you into the text and acts as a distillation of it,” Kidd says. “Then, during the course of your reading the book (especially if you like it), the cover becomes like a best friend’s favorite shirt.” Kidd’s new book, [_Judge This_](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1476784787/?tag=timecom-20), details how he takes in commonplace design details in his world throughout his day. TIME asked him to name five of his favorite classic book covers — plus one of his own. ### _Jaws_  Doubleday By Peter Benchley Designer: Paul Bacon ### _The Postman Always Rings Twice_  Knopf By James M. Cain Designer: Arthur Hawkins, Jr. ### _Charlotte’s Web_  Harper By E.B. White Designer: Garth Williams ### _Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth_  Pantheon By Chris Ware Designer: Chris Ware ### _Detective Comics #27_  DC Comics By Bill Finger Art by Bob Kane ### _Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage_  Knopf By Haruki Murakami Designer: Chip Kidd ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3912453/chip-kidd-book-covers/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3912453/chip-kidd-book-covers/"},"headline":"Chip Kidd Judges 6 Books By Their Covers","datePublished":"2015-06-11T19:43:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:10.040Z","description":"The award-winning book designer picks some of his all-time favorites","url":"https://time.com/3912453/chip-kidd-book-covers/","keywords":["Books","photography"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3912453/chip-kidd-book-covers/","name":"Chip Kidd Judges 6 Books By Their Covers"}}]}] ```