Ted Audio Collective.

Audio Collective.

This is Design Matters with

Debbie Millman from Design Observer.com.

On this program, Debbie talks with book jacket designer Peter Mindelson

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 Milman.

Peter Mendelssohn used to be a classical musician, but then one day he woke up to find that he was 30, and a 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

Kid. 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 Kofka,

Dubokov, and Dostevsky.

And yes, he thanks his lucky stars.

Welcome to Design Matters, Peter Mendelssohn.

Thank you for having me, Debbie.

Oh, it's great to have you here. Now I

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