tooth soup

photo credit: T.Young

Next on my list out of the four books I spontaneously bought was Chip Kidd’s ‘The Cheese Monkeys’, subtitled ‘A Novel in Two Semesters’. For those not familiar with the author’s name, you’d probably be familiar with at least a few pieces of his work, given he’s basically designed every worthwhile book cover on the planet (or at least that’s the impression his wiki gives). It’s kind of obvious that this is a book telling of design, as the book itself has a few quirky features, the most startling of which is the optical illusion that covers the whatever-the-technical-word-for-the-bit-opposite-the-spine-is-where-the-pages-come-out. Basically the edges of the pages look they’ve had a big smudge over them until you bend the book one way, whereupon those smudges resolve themselves into the words “Do you see?”. And then, ever the intrepid explorer, you bend the book the other way to see that they now form the words “Good is dead”. If you are anything like me, this has already made the book a worthwhile purchase.

Anyway, the subtitle is appropriate, as this is essentially an exaggerated autobiographical account of Kidd’s days taking art classes at college. More specifically the first semester is Kidd taking generic art classes and befriending the unstoppably quirky and independent Himillsy Dodd. Himillsy is difficult to describe, but if you take the teenage Juno, beat the irritating “Look at me I’m indie” out of her, grow her up a little, hurt her a bit to encourage the cynicism, then chuck her in a world of pretentious art world and let her develop the sense of hatred for stupidity and trends. That’s Himillsy (Hims, Mills, Millie).

From here, the narrator (already relatively unimpressed by the courses he’s been offered) is thrown into a design course in the second semester of the book. Specifically a design course with a sarcastic, highly intelligent, sadist design professor (who, apparently, invented the Wrigley’s gum wrapper double arrow) named Winter Sorbeck. As far as I can tell, Winter is essentially Kidd’s voice of design speaking through the book. He is an utter bastard, willing to rip off his student’s work, burn their assignments, berate them into leaving, and set them impossible tasks in order to get them to really appreciate the purpose of ‘design’. He sees graphic design as an elite art of translating ideas ans associations captured constantly from the world into concepts that leap at their audiences. Sorbeck is the art teacher that you’ve always wanted. The kind that abuses you for mediocrity, but has the expertise to back up the beratement, and the eventual humanity to award you.

There are lessons to be learned from this book. It is uplifting, even throughout the utterly insane scenes of penile blackmail. If nothing else it serves as a very light introduction to methods involved in modern design. Personally it did make me sit back and wonder what might have been, and what still could be, if I made a serious effort in the creative arts. It also made me wonder what on earth I’ll be doing at the end of my degree, but I believe that’s idiosyncratic to my reading of it.

Ultimately I’d recommend this one to anyone that’s interested in doing, or has done anything in design to get a friendly reminder of why you are doing (or have done) what you are doing (or have done). Good stuff, and accessible on a few different levels.

Related posts:

1. Book List: August + September