Well, blow me down. Okay, a tangent … I’ve heard people say that you can get all you need to know in life from two sources: either just the first Godfather movie or all three of them is the first source. I wish to heaven I could remember the second–maybe Seinfeld (all six years of it)–but I’m not certain.

And just two minutes ago, I believe I realized there’s a third such source, Popeye. The phrase, “Well, blow me down,” about covers any exclamation one would ever make, both obscene and not. And then the parable of Wimpy–”I will gladly pay you on Tuesday … for a hamburger today.”

Okay, that said and out of my system, I’m faced with an interesting issue/question/dichotomy/conundrum. I mean what to make of the Hendel book, at least as presented in the review for which you provided the link. And I am speaking personally.

When I did my first page design, and later book design, I didn’t need to read about any ‘”invisible” craft of book designing.” I understood that the task was to “best serve the author’s words.” Maybe because I’ve always been a reader and I was once a writer, if an undisciplined, untalented one–I wrote two-and-a-half bad, unpublishable novels by the time I was 20 or 21. And these novels were fashioned along the lines of the works of Hunter Thompson–who I always maintained was a novelist–and the school of “new journalism,” whereby the reporter became part of the report.

That brings me to another small portion of the review you linked to, the reference to ‘the recent trend of layered/obscured text and “aggressive” design: the designer as auteur.’

I repeat: Well, blow me down. Sounds reminiscent of all that new journalism jazz I was so enthralled with back in the ’70s.

Can anyone point me to some books that are really explicit examples of this ‘“aggressive” design: the designer as auteur”? “Cause I really wanna know.

I do think good book designers are avid readers first — it’s a prerequisite, really, isn’t it? And I wonder how many are also writers. Regarding the designer as auteur, the first two designers that come to mind are Stefan Sagmeister and Chip Kidd. They both have done so many projects in this way that I can’t list specific titles. They both are also very graphics-oriented. I’ll post more articles about this subject if/when I find other examples. Thanks for your comments!!

Designer David Carson is another example — he isn’t interested in merely delivering the author’s message; he wants to be equal partners with the author.

Wow! Have you given me some stuff. (Stuff. How’s that for a “term of art,” as they say in the legal profession.?)

I guess I can understand it a little more readily for a cover designer to be out there and up front a little more. I guess I tend to think of book interiors first and foremost. I really need to focus my thoughts, especially after reading the magnificent Perry Marshall piece that you direct me to. And then I need to get writing before those thoughts all scatter.

Thank you, thank you.

Oh, yes, the important part … I still believe that authors and publishers of all sizes want the book designer/layout artist to present the author’s work and not distract from it. And, to me, that still means not drawing attention to myself and away from the author’s work.

But—and this is a big, big “but”; and God help me for being so egotistical—Lordy! How the notion of being “equal partners with the author” appeals to me!

[…] But Liz writes, commenting on a comment of mine in response to a blog entry of hers entitled What is Book Design?, that “Designer David Carson … isn’t interested in merely delivering the author’s message; […]