Designers & Books Milestone Lists

Cover Stories: 50 Books/50 Covers 2011 Winners

By Steve Kroeter November 14, 2012

50 Books / 50 Covers

Designers & Books has partnered with AIGA and Design Observer to continue the “50 Books/50 Covers” competition honoring excellence in book design. As described on Design Observer, “Tracing its roots back over close to 90 years to 1924, this survey of the best in book design represents perhaps the longest-standing legacy in American graphic design.”

Among the 2011 competition winners, announced in October 2012, are an anthology of works by new American writers adorned with only a pencil; a service and prayer book for the Church of England, in which typography takes the place of expected graphics; Stefan G. Bucher’s richly illustrated DIY guide for creatives; a book called Bed for which the title’s letters are mattresses; a reimagining of Jack Kerouac’s collection of works; and a bold interpretation of David Foster Wallace’s posthumously published unfinished novel.

See all 50 book selections and 50 cover selections below.

Several of the winners took part in panel discussions on book design at Designers & Books Fair 2012. Abbott Miller, Paula Scher and DJ Stout were featured in the spirited roundtable “Book Design at Pentagram,” held on October 27 and moderated by Michael Bierut. Pentagram partners Emily Oberman and Eddie Opara also participated. Irma Boom, John Gall, and Peter Mendelsund took part in a lively panel discussion on book cover design, entitled “Cover Stories,” on October 28. The panel, which also included Jennifer Daniel, was moderated by Print magazine’s editor in chief, Michael Silverberg.

Information on entering the 2012 “50 Books/50 Covers” competition is available here.

50 Books 2011 Winners

		344 Questions: The Creative Person’s Do-It-Yourself Guide to Insight, Survival, and Artistic Fulfillment Stefan G. Bucher Designer: Stefan G. Bucher Publisher: Peachpit / New Riders Art Director: Stefan G. Bucher Design Firm: 344 Design, LLC
		A Chicken in Every Yard: The Urban Farm Store’s Guide to Chicken Keeping Robert and Hannah Litt Designer: Katy Brown Publisher: Ten Speed Press Art Director: Betsy Stromberg
		A Meditation in Rome Paul Gehl Designer: Russell Maret Publisher: Swan & Hoop / Russell Maret Art Director: Russell Maret
		Allora & Calzadilla: Gloria Lisa Freiman Designer: Abbott Miller and Kimberly Walker Publisher: Prestel Design Firm: Pentagram
		American Odysseys: Writings by New Americans The Vilcek Foundation Designer: Joe Shouldice Publisher: The Vilcek Foundation Press Art Director: Joe Shouldice Design Firm: YesYesYes Design
		Ashley Bickerton Kara Vander Weg Designer: Philipp Hubert Publisher: Other Criteria, London Art Director: Stefan Sagmeister Design Firm: Sagmeister & Walsh Graphic Artist: Ignacio Noé
		Bertrand Goldberg: Architecture of Invention Zoë Ryan Designer: Chrissi Cowhey, Eleanor Kung, Silja Hillmann Publisher: The Art Institute of Chicago and Yale University Press Art Director: Cheryl Towler Weese Design Firm: Studio Blue
		CODE(X) + 1: Monograph Series 1-6 Robert Bringurst, Peter Koch, Alan Loney, Ulrike Stoltz and Uta Schneider, Russel Maret, and Diidier Mutel Designer: Peter Koch Publisher: The Codex Foundation Art Director: Peter Koch
		Columbia Abstract 2010/2011 Scott Marble Designer: Philipp Hubert Designer: Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Preservation and Planning Art Director: Stefan Sagmeister Design Firm: Sagmeister & Walsh
		Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England, President’s Edition Church of England Designer: Derek Birdsall and John Morgan Publisher: Church of England Art Director: Derek Birdsall and John Morgan Design Firm: John Morgan Studio
		Dot Patricia Intriago Designer: Patricia Intriago Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)/Margaret Ferguson Books Art Director: Anne Diebel
		Drawing Restraint Vol. VI Matthew Barney Designer: Jerry Kelly Publisher: Schaulager Art Director: Jerry Kelly
		Explorations in Typography Carolina de Bartolo with Erik Spiekermann Designer: Carolina de Bartolo Publisher: 101 Editions Art Director: Carolina de Bartolo
		From Uncertain to Blue Keith Carter Designer: Barrett Fry Publisher: UT Press Art Director: DJ Stout Design Firm: Pentagram
		Gordon Monahan—Seeing Sound: Sound Art, Performance and Music 1978-2011 Linda Jansma and Carsten Seiffarth Designer: Robert Tombs and Gordon Monahan Publisher: Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, Ontario Canada Art Director: Robert Tombs Design Firm: Robert Tombs Studio
		Graphic Design: Now in Production Andrew Blauvelt and Ellen Lupton Designer: Michael Aberman Publisher: Walker Art Center Art Director: Emmet Byrne
		Hokusai Manga Kazuya Takaoka Designer: Ito Nobukazu, Matsuda Publisher: PIE International Art Director: Takaoka Kazuya
		Jac Leirner in Conversation with Adele Nelson Adele Nelson, Jac Leirner Design Firm: Marquand Books Publisher: Fundación Cisneros/Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros
		Knoll Textiles, 1945–2010 Earl Martin, Angela Volker, Paul Makovsky, Susan Ward, Bobbye Tigerman Designer: Irma Boom Publisher: Yale University Press
		Landform Building—Architecture's New Terrain Stan Allen, Marc McQuade Design Firm: Thumb, New York Publisher: Lars Müller Publishers
		Let’s Make Some Great Art Marion Deuchars Designer: Marion Deuchars Publisher: Laurence King Publishing
		Mutants and Mystics Jeffrey J. Kripal Designer: Michael Brehm Publisher: The University of Chicago Press Art Director: Jill Shimabukuro Design Firm: The University of Chicago Press
		Pantone: The Twentieth Century in Color Leatrice Eiseman and Keith Recker Designer: Brooke Johnson Publisher: Chronicle Books Art Director: Brooke Johnson Design Firm: Chronicle Books Typesetting: David Van Ness
		MAPS Paula Scher Designer: Paula Scher, Drea Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press Art Director: Paula Scher Design Firm: Pentagram
		Photographic Memory: The Album in the Age of Photography Verna Curtis Designer: Adam Michaels Publisher: Aperture and Library of Congress Design Firm: Project Projects
		Portrait of Murdock Pemberton: The New Yorker’s First Art Critic Sally Pemberton Designer: Sam Silvio Publisher: Picture Book Press Design Firm: Silvio Design Inc.
		Power Platon Designer: Scott Dadich Art Director: Scott Dadich
		Richard Serra Drawing: A Retrospective Edited by Gary Garrels, Bernice Rose, and Michelle White Designer: Mark Nelson Publisher: The Menil Collection, Houston Design Firm: McCall Associates
		Sanja Ivekovic: Sweet Violence Roxana Marcoci Design Firm: Mevis & Van Deursen, Amsterdam Publisher: The Museum of Modern Art
		Seeing Is Believing: Rebecca Campbell + Angela Ellsworth Sara Cochran Designer: Brad Jones Publisher: Phoenix Art Museum Art Director: Brad Jones Design Firm: P.S. Studios, Inc.
		SVA Undergraduate Catalog 2012/2013 School of Visual Arts Designer: E. Patrick Tobin Art Director: Michael J. Walsh Design Firm: Visual Arts Press, Ltd.
		Swarm Lukas Felzmann Designer: Lukas Felzmann with Lars Müller Art Director and Publisher: Lars Müller Design Firm: Integral Lars Müller
		Tartine: The Boxed Set Elisabeth Pruiett and Chad Robertson Designer: Vanessa Dina Publisher: Chronicle Books Design Firm: Chronicle Books
		The Atlas of Economic Complexity Ricardo Hausmann, Cesar Hidalgo et all Designer: Beltran Garcia Publisher: Center for International Development at Harvard University, Harvard Kennedy School + MIT Media Labs, MIT MacroConnections Design Firm: Chronicle Books
		The Buell Hypothesis Reinhold Martin, Anna Kenoff, Leah Meisterlin Designer: Aliza Dzik, Michael Greenblatt, Daniel Koppich, Jessica Wexler Publisher: The Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture Art Director: Glen Cummings Design Firm: MTWTF + Greenblatt-Wexler
		The Doogwood Theives John Currin Designer: Amy S. Wilkens and Robin Brunelle Publisher: Acadia Summer Arts Program Design Firm: Matsumoto Inc.
		The Language of Less (Then and Now) Michael Darling Designer: Alfredo Ruiz Publisher: Museum of Contermporary Art Chicago Art Director: James Goggin
		The MAD Fold-In Collection Al Jaffee Designer: Michael Morris Publisher: Chronicle Books Art Director: Michael Morris Design Firm: Chronicle Books
		The Story of Paper-cut Zhao Xigang Designer: Jingren Lu Publisher: People’s Fine Arts Publishing House Art Director: Xu Jie Design Firm: Jingren Art Design
		The Toaster Project Thomas Thwaites Designer: Paul Wagner Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press Art Director: Paul Wagner
		Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy John Le Carre Designer: Paul Smith Publisher: Hachette
		Twenty-Six Characters, An Alphabetical Book about Nokia Pure Aapo Bovellan, Chris Merrick Designer: Hugh Miller, Bradley Zimber Publisher: Gestalten Art Director: Iván Mato, Lisbet Tonner Design Firm: Nokia Design
		Under the Big Black Sun: California Art 1974–1980 Paul Schimmel and Lisa Gabrielle Mark Designer: Tracey Schiffman, Alex Kohnke, Deanne Oi Publisher: DelMonico Books—Prestel—MOCA Design Firm: Shiffman & Kohnke
		Utilité Ellen Korth Designer: Leo Sterrenburg Publisher: Ellen Korth, Deventer, 2011
		Victor Halfwit: A Winter’s Tale Thomas Bernhard Designer: Sunandini Banerjee Publisher: Seagull Books
		Visual Complexity Manuel Lima Designer: Jan Haux Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press Art Director: Deb Wood
		Waterlife Rambharos Jha Designer: Jonathan Yamakami Publisher: Tara Books Art Director: Rathna Ramanathan Design Firm: Tara Books
		Whole Beast Butchery Ryan Farr with Brigit Binns Designer: Vanessa Dina Publisher: Chronicle Books Art Director: Vanessa Dina Design Firm: Chronicle Books
		Windows on the War: Soviet TASS Posters at Home and Abroad 1941–1945 Peter Kort Zegers and Douglas Druick Designer: Chrissi Cowhey, Megan Deal, Silja Hillmann Publisher: The Art Institute of Chicago and Yale University Press Art Director: Cheryl Towler Weese Design Firm: Studio Blue
		Wonderstruck Brian Selznick Designer: Brian Selznick Publisher: Scholastic Press

50 Covers 2011 Winners

		3001: A Lunar Odyssey Mike Uphoff Designer: Mikey Uphff Publisher: Lulu Art Director: Mikey Uphoff
		A Man of Parts David Lodge Designer: Jaya Miceli Publisher: Viking Art Director: Paul Buckley
		A Relíquia (Relic); A Queda de um Anjo (The Fall of an Angel); De Profundis (De Profundis); Coração (Heart) Célia Pessegueiro Designer: Rita Marquito Publisher: Nova Delphi Art Director: João Bicker Design Firm: FBA. – Ferrand, Bicker & Associados
		Adam and Evelyn Ingo Schulze Designer: Peter Mendelsund Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Art Director: Carol Carson
		Adventures in the Orgasmatron Christopher Turner Designer: Marina Drukman Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Art Director: Marina Drukman Design Firm: Marina Drukman
		Bed David Whitehouse Designer: Rex Bonomelli and Philip Heckman Publisher: Scribner Art Director: Rex Bonomelli
		Better By Mistake Alina Tugend Designer: Alex Merto Publisher: Riverhead Books Art Director: Helen Yentus
		Black Boy White School Brian F. Walker Designer: Erin Fitzsimmons Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books Art Director: Hilary Zarycky
		C Tom McCarthy Designer: John Gall Publisher: Vintage Books
		Checking In/Checking Out Chris Schaberg/Mark Yakich Designer: Nancy Bernardo Publisher: NO Books Art Director: Nancy Bernardo Design Firm: decorative debris
		Contradance John Peck Designer: Natalie F. Smith Publisher: The University of Chicago Press Art Director: Jill Shimabukuro Design Firm: The University of Chicago Press
		Darwin’s Finches Kathleen Donohue Designer: Matt Avery Publisher: The University of Chicago Press Art Director: Jill Shimabukuro Design Firm: The University of Chicago Press
		Death and the Penguin Andrey Kurkov Designer: Christopher King Publisher: Melville House
		Debt David Graeber Designer: Carol Hayes Publisher: Melville House
		Do the Movies Have a Future? David Denby Designer: Thomas Ng Publisher: Simon & Schuster Art Director: Jackie Seow
		Fever Sonia Shah Designer: LeeAnn Falciani Publisher: Picador Art Director: Henry Sene Yee Design Firm: Picador
		He Died with His Eyes Open Derek Raymond Designer: Christopher King Publisher: Melville House
		I Belong to This Band, Hallelujah! Laura Clawson Designer: Natalie F. Smith Publisher: The University of Chicago Press Art Director: Jill Shimabukuro Design Firm: The University of Chicago Press
		I Know I Am But What Are You? Samantha Bee Designer: Joel Holland Publisher: Gallery Books Art Director: Michael Nagin
		In Trouble Ellen Levine Design Firm: Amelia LeBarron Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab, an imprint of Lerner Publishing group
		Influencing Machine Brooke Gladstone / Tom Mayer Designer: Mark Melnick Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Art Director: Ingsu Liu
		IQ84 Haruki Murakami Designer: Chip Kidd Publisher: Random House Art Director: Chip Kidd
		Kerouac Series (2011 repackage) Jack Kerouac Designer: Paul Buckley Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Art Director: Paul Buckley Cover Art: Vivienne Flesher
		Kwadraat Bladen: A Series of Graphic Experiments 1955–74 Adrian Shaughnessy and Tony Brook Designer: Claudia Klat Publisher: Unit Editions Art Director: Tony Brook Design Firm: Spin
		Linguagem e Comunicação (Language and Communication) from the series Celga Paula Valente Designer: Ana Boavida Publisher: Almedina Art Director: João Bicker Design Firm: FBA. – Ferrand, Bicker & Associados
		Londoners Craig Taylor Designer: Damon Murray, Stephen Sorrell Publisher: Granta Design Firm: Murray & Sorrell FUEL
		Mensagem de Fernando Pessoa (The Message of Fernando Pessoa) Paula Valente Designer: Ana Boavida Publisher: Almedina Art Director: João Bicker Design Firm: FBA. – Ferrand, Bicker & Associados
		My Dyslexia Philip Schultz Designer: Mark Melnick Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
		Nom de Plume Carmela Ciuraru Designer: Jarrod Taylor Publisher: HarperCollins Art Director: Archie Ferguson
		Oliver Sacks paperback repackage (Migrane; Awakenings; The Island of the Colorblind; Uncle Tugnsten; An Anthropologist on Mars; Seeing Voices) Oliver Sacks Designer: Cardon Webb Publisher: Vintage Art Director: John Gall Design Firm: Vintage/Anchor
		Operation Bonnet: A Novel Kimberly Stuart Designer: Tim Green Publisher: David C. Cook Art Director: Amy Kiechlin
		Orientation and Other Stories Daniel Orozco Designer: Charlotte Strick Art Director: Charlotte Strick Publisher: Faber and Faber
		Poetry After 9/11 Dennis Loy Johnson and Valerie Merians Designer: Christopher King Publisher: Melville House
		Red Autobiographies Igal Halfin Designer: Thomas Eykemans Publisher: University of Washington Press Design Firm: University of Washington Press
		Seeing Double Françoise Meltzer Designer: Matt Avery Publisher: The University of Chicago Press Art Director: Jill Shimabukuro Design Firm: The University of Chicago Press
		Snowdrops A.D. Miller Designer: Emily Mahon Publisher: Doubleday Art Director: Emily Mahon
		Tell the Wolves I’m Home Carol Rifka Brunt Designer: Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich Publisher: Random House Art Director: Tom Stvan Design Firm: de Vicq design
		The Bauhaus Group Nicholas Fox Weber Designer: Peter Mendelsund Publisher: Yale University Press
		The Enigma of the Aerofoil David Bloor Designer: Andrea Guinn Publisher: The University of Chicago Press Art Director: Jill Shimabukuro Design Firm: The University of Chicago Press
		The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood James Gleick Designer: Peter Mendelsund Publisher: Pantheon
		The Meaning of Disgust Colin McGinn Designer: Thomas Ng Publisher: Oxford University Press Art Director: Rachel Perkins Design Firm: Oxford University Press
		The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050 Joel Kotkin Designer: Tal Goretsky Publisher: Penguin Art Director: Darren Haggar
		The Old Romantic Louise Dean Designer: Alex Merto Publisher: Riverhead Books Art Director: Helen Yentus
		The Pale King David Foster Wallace Designer: Gray318 Publisher: Hamish Hamilton Art Director: John Hamilton
		The Pint Man Steve Rushin Designer: Jamie Keenan Publisher: Vintage Books Art Director: John Gall
		The Real Holden Caulfield Michael Moats Designer: Matt Tanner Publisher: Fiction Advocate Art Director: Matt Tanner Design Firm: Fiction Advocate
		The Works of Franz Kafka F. Kafka Designer: Peter Mendelsund Publisher: Schocken Books Art Director: Peter Mendelsund
		Tourquai Tim Davys Designer: Jarrod Taylor Publisher: HarperCollins
		Vault David Rose Designer: David Pearson Publisher: Salt Publishing
		Works of Clarice Lispector Clarice Lispector Designer: Paul Sahre, Erik Carter Publisher: New Directions

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