VLADIMIR NABOKOV SPECIMEN BOX PROJECT
I have officially been hiding under a rock, recovering from consuming copious amounts of Thanksgiving treats over the last few days. Upon awaking from my food slumber yesterday, I picked up the latest copy of New York Magazine, and discovered the Nabokov Specimen Box Project.
John Gall, Art Director for Vintage and Anchor Books, commissioned twenty-one designers to redesign covers for Vladimir Nabokov's twenty-one books. Apparently, Nabokov was an avid butterfly collector, so in homage to this passion of his, all of the cover designs were created inside a specimen box (usually used by collectors to display insects, etc.). So, the designers had the challenge (slash luxury) of creating a sort of 3-dimensional diorama.
The group of designers consisted of:
Chip Kidd, Carol Carson, Jason Fulford and Tamara Shopsin, Megan Wilson and Duncan Hannah, Rodrigo Corral, Martin Venezky, Charles Wilkin, Helen Yentus and Jason Booher, Peter Mendelsund, Sam Potts, Dave Eggers, Paul Sahre, Stephen Doyle, Carin Goldberg, Michael Bierut, Barbara de Wilde, Marian Bantjes and John Gall, himself.
Above are some of my favorites.
King, Queen, Knave / Designed by Peter Mendelsund
Glory / Designed by Martin Venezky
Stories / Designed by Barbara de Wilde
Pnin / Designed by Carin Goldberg (who happens to be a former professor of mine)
The Eye / Designed by John Gall
In a Kindle world, it's very refreshing to see that the art of book design is still cherished.
Read more and see the additional covers here.
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