The hilarious art of book design | Chip Kidd

翻译人员: Emma Zhao 校对人员: Dong Mao

Hi.

大家好！

(Laughter)

（笑）

I did that for two reasons.

我这样做有两个原因

First of all, I wanted to give you

第一 我想在视觉上给你们

a good visual first impression.

一个良好的第一印象

But the main reason I did it is that

但其实我这样做的主要原因

that's what happens to me when I'm forced to wear

是我被强迫戴上

a Lady Gaga skanky mic.

这个Lady Gaga风的古怪麦克风

(Laughter)

(笑)

I'm used to a stationary mic.

我习惯固定式麦克风

It's the sensible shoe of public address.

那才是公开场合演讲标配

(Laughter)

（笑）

But you clamp this thing on my head, and something happens.

但是 我头上被卡上这个东西后 怪事发生了

I just become skanky.

我也变得怪里怪气了

(Laughter) So I'm sorry about that.

（笑）对不住大家

And I'm already off-message.

我都跑题了

(Laughter)

（笑）

Ladies and gentlemen,

女士们 先生们

I have devoted the past 25 years of my life

我花了二十五年的宝贵光阴

to designing books.

致力于设计书本

("Yes, BOOKS. You know, the bound volumes with ink on paper.

“对，书。就是把一沓上面有墨水的纸订一起。

You cannot turn them off with a switch.

你不能用开关关掉它。

Tell your kids.")

记得告诉你孩子。”

It all sort of started as a benign mistake,

其实我干这行也是无心插柳柳成荫

like penicillin. (Laughter)

就跟当初发现青霉素似的（笑）

What I really wanted

我本来想的是

was to be a graphic designer

成为纽约市

at one of the big design firms in New York City.

一家大型设计公司的美术编辑

But upon arrival there,

当时的情形是

in the fall of 1986, and doing a lot of interviews,

1986年秋天 在经历了大批的面试之后

I found that the only thing I was offered

我唯一接到的聘书就是

was to be Assistant to the Art Director at Alfred A. Knopf,

阿尔弗雷德•克诺夫出版社的艺术总监助理

a book publisher.

那是一家图书出版商

Now I was stupid,

我承认我当时的确挺蠢的

but not so stupid that I turned it down.

但还没有蠢到让自己失业

I had absolutely no idea

我压根不知道

what I was about to become part of,

我到底要干啥

and I was incredibly lucky.

不过我真的太走运了

Soon, it had occurred to me what my job was.

很快 我就知道我的工作是什么了

My job was to ask this question:

我的工作就是问这个问题：

"What do the stories look like?"

“这些故事看上去像什么？”

Because that is what Knopf is.

因为这就是克诺夫的风格

It is the story factory, one of the very best in the world.

它是个故事工厂 世上最好的故事工厂之一

We bring stories to the public.

我们把故事带给公众

The stories can be anything,

故事五花八门

and some of them are actually true.

有一些是真有其事

But they all have one thing in common:

但他们有一个共同点：

They all need to look like something.

他们需要看上去像个什么玩意儿

They all need a face.

它们需要一副面孔

Why? To give you a first impression

为什么呢? 就是给你

of what you are about to get into.

即将步入的世界一个第一印象

A book designer gives form to content,

书籍设计师用形式来表达内容

but also

同时

manages a very careful balance between the two.

还要非常小心地使两者平衡

Now, the first day

犹记得

of my graphic design training at Penn State University,

我在宾州州立大学平面设计培训的第一天

the teacher, Lanny Sommese, came into the room

我的老师，Lanny Sommese，走进教室

and he drew a picture of an apple on the blackboard,

在黑板上画了一张苹果的图片

and wrote the word "Apple" underneath,

在下面写上“苹果”

and he said, "OK. Lesson one. Listen up."

他说，“第一堂课，听好了啊。”

And he covered up the picture and he said,

他把图片盖上，又说

"You either say this," and then he covered up the word,

你们要么说这个，”接着他又把字盖上

"or you show this.

“要么画这个

But you don't do this."

不能两者同时出现。”

Because this is treating your audience like a moron.

因为那样的话就是把观众当弱智啊

(Laughter)

（笑)

And they deserve better.

观众可不是弱智

And lo and behold, soon enough,

你瞧 很快

I was able to put this theory to the test

我就能把这个理论

on two books that I was working on for Knopf.

试用到我为克诺夫设计的两本书上

The first was Katharine Hepburn's memoirs,

第一本是凯瑟琳·赫本的回忆录

and the second was a biography of Marlene Dietrich.

第二本是玛琳·黛德丽的传记

Now the Hepburn book

赫本的书

was written in a very conversational style,

是用非常口语化的语言写就的

it was like she was sitting across a table telling it all to you.

就像她坐在桌子对面跟你聊天一样

The Dietrich book was an observation

黛德丽的书是一本以她女儿

by her daughter; it was a biography.

的视角所观察出的一部传记

So the Hepburn story is words

赫本的故事是用语言

and the Dietrich story is pictures, and so we did this.

黛德丽的故事是用图画，所以我们做了这个

So there you are.

你们来看

Pure content and pure form, side by side.

单纯的内容和单纯的形式，肩并肩

No fighting, ladies.

好好相处哟,两位女士

("What's a Jurassic Park?")

“什么是侏罗纪公园？”

Now, what is the story here?

是一个什么样的故事呢？

Someone

有人

is re-engineering dinosaurs

从史前时代的琥珀里

by extracting their DNA

提取了恐龙的DNA

from prehistoric amber.

把恐龙复活了。

Genius!

小伙儿你行！

(Laughter)

（笑）

Now, luckily for me,

有一点幸运的是

I live and work in New York City,

我在纽约市居住和工作

where there are plenty of dinosaurs.

那儿的恐龙可是相当多啊

(Laughter)

（笑）

So,

然后

I went to the Museum of Natural History,

我去了自然历史博物馆

and I checked out the bones, and I went to the gift shop,

在那好好看了看恐龙骨架，然后我又去了礼品店

and I bought a book.

在那买了一本书

And I was particularly taken with this page of the book,

我特别喜欢书中的这一页

and more specifically the lower right-hand corner.

更具体点就是右下角那张图

Now I took this diagram,

我选了这个图

and I put it in a Photostat machine,

我把它放到复印机里

(Laughter)

（笑）

and I took a piece of tracing paper,

我又取了一张描图纸

and I taped it over the Photostat

我用一片透明胶带

with a piece of Scotch tape -- stop me if I'm going too fast --

把它贴到复印机上——如果我讲得太快了请告诉我——

(Laughter) --

（笑）

and then I took a Rapidograph pen --

我又拿出一支绘图笔——

explain it to the youngsters --

告诉那边的小伙子那是啥——

(Laughter)

（笑）

and I just started to reconstitute the dinosaur.

然后我就开始重建恐龙了

I had no idea what I was doing,

我其实不知道自己在做什么

I had no idea where I was going,

也不知道会整出个啥玩意儿

but at some point, I stopped --

但做了一会儿之后，我觉得我得停了——

when to keep going would seem like I was going too far.

再做下去看来有点太过火

And what I ended up with was a graphic representation

最终我们看到的

of us seeing this animal coming into being.

图形中的动物是这个样子

We're in the middle of the process.

这还没完

And then I just threw some typography on it.

我又稍作了一点后期加工

Very basic stuff,

简单弄了一下

slightly suggestive of public park signage.

顺便影射了一下咱们公园的标识有多简陋

(Laughter)

（笑）

Everybody in house loved it,

出版社里人都挺喜欢它的

and so off it goes to the author.

于是它就被送到作者那里去了

And even back then,

即使在当时

Michael was on the cutting edge.

迈克尔说话也挺潮的

("Michael Crichton responds by fax:")

迈克尔·克莱顿在传真里回复到：

("Wow! Fucking Fantastic Jacket")

“擦！这书封他妈的太帅了”

(Laughter) (Applause)

（笑）（掌声）

That was a relief to see that pour out of the machine.

看见这张传真从机器里出来的时候我才真正安心了

(Laughter)

（笑）

I miss Michael.

我真想迈克尔

And sure enough, somebody from MCA Universal

果然 环球影业有人

calls our legal department to see if they can

打电话到我们法律部

maybe look into buying the rights to the image,

问是否能买到这张图的版权

just in case they might want to use it.

以备将来之用

Well, they used it.

好吧，他们最后真的用了

(Laughter) (Applause)

（笑）（掌声）

And I was thrilled.

我当时很激动

We all know it was an amazing movie,

我们都知道那是一部很棒的电影

and it was so interesting to see it

而且看到这成了一种文化

go out into the culture and become this phenomenon

成了一种现象 还有各种衍生品

and to see all the different permutations of it.

还真挺有意思的

But not too long ago,

但就在不久前

I came upon this on the Web.

我在网上无意看见这个图

No, that is not me.

那可不是我噢

But whoever it is,

但 不管是谁

I can't help but thinking they woke up one day like,

我禁不住会想 他们要是有天醒过来叫

"Oh my God, that wasn't there last night. Ooooohh!

“天哪，昨晚这可还啥也没的呀。啊啊啊啊啊！

I was so wasted."

我算是完蛋了。”

(Laughter)

（笑）

But if you think about it, from my head

想想 这个图画经由我的脑袋

to my hands to his leg.

到我的手最后到了他腿上

(Laughter)

（笑）

That's a responsibility.

这还真是种责任

And it's a responsibility that I don't take lightly.

不过这是种我不能轻易担当的责任

The book designer's responsibility is threefold:

图书设计师有三重责任

to the reader, to the publisher and, most of all, to the author.

对读者 对出版商 最重要的是对作者

I want you to look at the author's book

我希望你看到该作者的书

and say, "Wow! I need to read that."

会说，“哇！我得看看这本书。”

David Sedaris is one of my favorite writers,

大卫·塞达斯是我最喜欢的作家之一

and the title essay

这本合集的文章标题

in this collection is about his trip to a nudist colony.

是关于他的裸体主义殖民地之旅的

And the reason he went is because

他去的原因是

he had a fear of his body image,

他害怕自己身体的样子

and he wanted to explore what was underlying that.

他想探究一下原因所在

For me, it was simply an excuse to design a book

但这本书对我的意义是 我终于有机会

that you could literally take the pants off of.

设计一本能脱裤子的书了

But when you do,

但即使你真这样做了

you don't get what you expect.

你也不见得就能看见你想看的

You get something that goes much deeper than that.

你得到的东西要深刻得多

And David especially loved this design

大卫特别喜爱这个设计

because at book signings, which he does a lot of,

因为在他做的很多书籍签名会上

he could take a magic marker and do this.

他会拿支神奇的马克笔然后画个这玩意儿

(Laughter)

（笑）

Hello!

喂！

(Laughter)

（笑）

Augusten Burroughs wrote a memoir

奥古斯丁·巴勒斯写过一本传记

called ["Dry"], and it's about his time in rehab.

叫做《干燥》 记述了他在康复的事经历

In his 20s, he was a hotshot ad executive,

他20几岁时 就成为一位相当成功的广告公司主管了

and as Mad Men has told us, a raging alcoholic.

不过像《广告狂人》里一样，他是个疯狂的酒鬼

He did not think so, however,

他本人并不以为然

but his coworkers did an intervention and they said,

不过他的同事都劝他说

"You are going to rehab, or you will be fired and you will die."

“你要去康复中心，不然，你会被炒鱿鱼，你会死掉的。”

Now to me, this was always going to be a typographic solution,

对我来说 有一种排版法一直都靠谱

what I would call the opposite of Type 101.

我称之为101型的对立面

What does that mean?

这是什么意思呢？

Usually on the first day of Introduction to Typography,

通常在上印刷术简介课的第一天

you get the assignment of, select a word

你的作业是选一个字

and make it look like what it says it is. So that's Type 101, right?

然后把这个字写得像它所表达的意思

Very simple stuff.

非常简单

This is going to be the opposite of that.

我这个方法其实就是反着来

I want this book to look like it's lying to you,

我想让这本书看上去像在撒谎

desperately and hopelessly, the way an alcoholic would.

绝望无助地撒谎，就跟酒鬼一样的

The answer was the most low-tech thing you can imagine.

我用了你所能想象到的最没技术含量的方法

I set up the type, I printed it out on an Epson printer

我设置了字型 然后用爱普生的

with water-soluble ink, taped it to the wall

水溶性墨水打印出来 贴到墙上

and threw a bucket of water at it. Presto!

再把一桶水浇上去 瞬间变样！

Then when we went to press,

接着我们拿到出版社

the printer put a spot gloss on the ink

打印机在墨水上加了点光泽

and it really looked like it was running.

看上去真像在往下流

Not long after it came out, Augusten was waylaid in an airport

出版没多久，奥古斯丁埋伏在一个机场

and he was hiding out in the bookstore

他藏在一个书店里

spying on who was buying his books.

偷看谁在买他的书

And this woman came up to it,

有一位老太太走过来

and she squinted, and she took it to the register,

她瞅了一眼 就把书拿到收款处

and she said to the man behind the counter, "This one's ruined."

对店员说，“这本书印坏了。”

(Laughter)

（笑）

And the guy behind the counter said, "I know, lady. They all came in that way."

店员站在柜台后说，“我知道，女士。它们来的时候就成这样了。”

(Laughter)

（笑）

Now, that's a good printing job.

印刷厂的伙计们干的还真不赖嘛

A book cover

一本书的封面

is a distillation.

是书的精华

It is a haiku,

也可以说

if you will, of the story.

是这个故事的俳句总结

This particular story

手塚治虫

by Osama Tezuka

在他写的

is his epic life of the Buddha,

菩萨史诗中有一个很特殊的故事

and it's eight volumes in all. But the best thing is

这书总共有8卷。最棒的是

when it's on your shelf, you get a shelf life

当它上了你的书架 你就得到了

of the Buddha, moving from one age to the next.

一排菩萨，而且还是不同年龄段的

All of these solutions

所有这些方案

derive their origins from the text of the book,

是从书的内容发掘出来的

but once the book designer has read the text,

而一旦图书设计师读到了内容

then he has to be an interpreter

他就变成了一位诠释者

and a translator.

和翻译者

This story was a real puzzle.

这个故事才是个真正的谜

This is what it's about.

就是这么回事

("Intrigue and murder among 16th century Ottoman court painters.")

“十六世纪奥斯曼法庭画家的阴谋和谋杀。”

(Laughter)

（笑）

All right, so I got a collection of the paintings together

那好 我就收集了一些画

and I looked at them and I deconstructed them

我看着它们 解构它们

and I put them back together.

又把它们组合起来

And so, here's the design, right?

所以 这就成了设计 对吧

And so here's the front and the spine, and it's flat.

这是封面和书脊 是平的

But the real story starts when you wrap it around a book and put it on the shelf.

但当你用它包上书 放到书架上 故事就开始了

Ahh! We come upon them,

啊！我们看到了

the clandestine lovers. Let's draw them out.

秘密情人 让我们再拉出来看看吧

Huhh! They've been discovered by the sultan.

噢！他们被苏丹发现了

He will not be pleased.

他不会开心的

Huhh! And now the sultan is in danger.

嗬！现在苏丹身处危险

And now, we have to open it up

现在我们需要打开来

to find out what's going to happen next.

看看下面会发生什么事

Try experiencing that on a Kindle.

你能用Kindle这么玩么？

(Laughter)

（笑）

Don't get me started.

别提了 说了我就来气

Seriously.

说真的

Much is to be gained by eBooks:

电子书籍提供了很多

ease, convenience, portability.

轻松，方便，便携

But something is definitely lost: tradition,

但是有个东西一定不在了：传统

a sensual experience, the comfort of thingy-ness --

一种感官体验，那种物质特有的安慰——

a little bit of humanity.

和一点点的人性

Do you know what John Updike used to do

你知道约翰·厄普代克

the first thing when he would get a copy

从阿尔弗雷德•克诺夫出版社拿到新书后

of one of his new books from Alfred A. Knopf?

做的第一件事是什么吗？

He'd smell it.

他会闻闻它

Then he'd run his hand over the rag paper,

接着他会用手摸遍书页

and the pungent ink and the deckled edges of the pages.

刺鼻的油墨 纸的裁边

All those years, all those books, he never got tired of it.

从始至终 一本不拉 他从未厌倦过

Now, I am all for the iPad,

当然我也觉得IPAD很好

but trust me -- smelling it will get you nowhere.

但不骗你 闻它你可是啥都闻不到的

(Laughter)

（笑）

Now the Apple guys are texting,

这会儿苹果员工正在给工程师发短信呢

"Develop odor emission plug-in."

“赶紧开发气味分泌插件。”

(Laughter)

（笑）

And the last story I'm going to talk about is quite a story.

最后我要讲的是一个很有意思的故事

A woman

1984年

named Aomame in 1984 Japan finds herself

在日本有一个叫青豆的女人

negotiating down a spiral staircase

发现自己正沿着立交桥

off an elevated highway. When she gets to the bottom,

盘旋下行 当她到达底部时

she can't help but feel that, all of a sudden,

她突然不禁觉得

she's entered a new reality

她走进了一个新的世界

that's just slightly different from the one that she left,

这和她离开的那个略有不同

but very similar, but different.

像 但不一样

And so, we're talking about parallel planes of existence,

其实我们在说的是世界的平行层的存在

sort of like a book jacket and the book that it covers.

就像一本书和它的封面一样

So how do we show this?

那我们如何来表示呢？

We go back to Hepburn and Dietrich, but now we merge them.

我们再回到赫本和黛德丽，但这次把她们合并

So we're talking about different planes, different pieces of paper.

我们在讲不同的层面，那就用不同的纸层

So this is on a semi-transparent piece of velum.

这是一片半透明的膜

It's one part of the form and content.

它是形式和内容的一部分

When it's on top of the paper board,

当它在纸的上面时

which is the opposite, it forms this.

即反过来放 就成这样了

So even if you don't know anything about this book,

所以 即使你一点也不了解这本书

you are forced to consider a single person

你也会不由自主地觉得这是一个人

straddling two planes of existence.

跨越了两个层面的存在

And the object itself invited exploration

这个书实物本身就引起了探索

interaction, consideration

互动 思考

and touch.

和接触

This debuted at number two

这本书一登场就居

on the New York Times Best Seller list.

《纽约时报》畅销书排行榜第二

This is unheard of,

这对于出版社和作者

both for us the publisher, and the author.

都是前所未闻的

We're talking a 900-page book

我们在讲是一本900页的书

that is as weird as it is compelling,

它不仅好看而且很怪异

and featuring a climactic scene

它的高潮片段居然是

in which a horde of tiny people

一群小人

emerge from the mouth of a sleeping girl

从一名熟睡了的女孩嘴里出来

and cause a German Shepherd to explode.

然后把一条德国牧羊犬弄炸了！

(Laughter)

（笑）

Not exactly Jackie Collins.

不完全是杰基·柯林斯的风格嘛

Fourteen weeks on the Best Seller list,

十四周位居畅销书排行榜

eight printings, and still going strong.

印了8次 仍然势头不减

So even though we love publishing as an art,

即使我们像爱艺术一样爱出版

we very much know it's a business too,

我们也很清楚 这毕竟也是生意

and that if we do our jobs right and get a little lucky,

如果我们做得对 运气又不差的话

that great art can be great business.

那伟大的艺术也能成伟大的生意

So that's my story. To be continued.

这就是我的故事 未完待续

What does it look like?

这故事到底看起来怎么样?

Yes. It can, it does and it will,

我知道 这种场景不仅可能 而且正在并且还会继续发生

but for this book designer,

不过对我这个书籍设计师

page-turner,

读者

dog-eared place-holder,

旧书的收集者

notes in the margins-taker,

在书上作批注的人

ink-sniffer,

以及闻墨香的人来说

the story looks like this.

在我眼中这个故事是这样的

Thank you.

谢谢大家。

(Applause)

（掌声）