Ted Audio Collective.

This is the 10th anniversary of Design Matters, and to mark the anniversary were

we playing some favorite shows from the archive.

This one, an interview with Peter Mendelssohn, was recorded in November of 2011.

This is Design Matters with Debbie Milman from Design Observer.com.

On this program, Debbie talks with book jacket designer Peter Mindelsom, about what makes a great book cover,

about rebranding classic authors, and about his fears of the iPad and the Kindle.

I feel the hot breath of the Kindle on my neck when I'm working.

I know that there's going to be a moment where I'm going to be out of a job.

Here's Debbie Millman.

Peter Mendelssohn used to be a classical musician, but then one day he woke up to find that he was 30, and new father and in need of a more lucrative career. He knew he liked to read and to make things and so after six months of making CD cover

art, Mendelssohn showed his portfolio to a friend of a friend

named Chip Kidd. A week later, he had a job at Vintage. It was his first and only paying gig as a designer. In the

decades since, Mendelssohn has become an associate art director at Knopf and has

designed book covers for the likes of Kafka, Nabokov, And yes he thanks his

he thanks his lucky off of Kofka, Dibokov, and Dostevsky.

And yes, he thanks his lucky stars.

Welcome to Design Matters Peter Peter Mendelssohn.

Thank you for having me, Debbie.

Oh, it's great to have you here.

Now, I understand that you were actually not quite sure

that you technically graduated. Oh, you read that?

...