Chip Kidd, triumphant

I recently mentioned graphic designer Chip Kidd's "magpied" book cover designs. Kidd's signature style involves scraps and shards of paper ephemera (often torn comic book pages), and extreme closeups on portions of those scraps and shards. He leaves a lot out of his designs, forcing the viewer to connect the dots, put together the puzzle, participate in the process of judging a book by its cover... which viewers love doing.

USA Today called Kidd "the closest thing to a rock star" in graphic design today. He's even made it onto Time's recently released "Who Are the World's Most Influential?" list of finalists in that magazine's "100 Most Influential: 2008" list. (True, Kidd ranks 207th out of a list of 207, but hey! How many other graphic designers are on the list? And where are you on the list, for that matter?) His style is so popular that I half-expect him to redesign the $20 bill.

Alas, America is never as cutting-edge when it comes to design as England. Our money just gets more boring. Not so England's: According to the Royal Mint, which held a contest to redesign the coins of the realm, the winning design -- by London-based Matthew Dent -- give a "contemporary treatment" to the Royal Arms. In fact, the Shield of the Royal Arms has been "cleverly split among all six denominations from the 1p to the 50p...."

Wait a second... Paging Chip Kidd! He's been robbed!

New coin design via Feuilleton