Penguin’s Brightest Star: Coralie Bickford-Smith
by Julie Oreskovich
Self-portrait
Coralie Bickford-Smith
This London-based designer studied typography and graphic communication at Reading University and has been featured in Vogue, the New York Times and The Guardian. Her designs often include a nod to the golden age of illustration and also various art movements from the past 150 years.
Coralie Bickford-Smith was kind enough to answer our questions.
AbeBooks: When you were a child, what did you want to do for a living? Has design always been your passion?
Coralie Bickford-Smith: My childhood was a mix of either obsessively reading or frantically drawing. It was a revelation when as a young adult I realised that a career could be filled with the same activities by becoming a designer. It sounds like it was all so simple but my path to becoming a designer was a rocky one.
AbeBooks: How did you end up at Penguin?
Coralie Bickford-Smith: After a lot of hard work and quite a few jobs I eventually got into the hallowed doors of Penguin when I was invited for interview for position of cover designer. Penguin Press Art director Jim Stoddart saw something in my work and I will always be thankful.
A Selection from the Clothbound Series
AbeBooks: Can you tell us what a typical work day is for you? Are you in an office for the day, in front of a computer, looking at books, walking about for inspiration?
Coralie Bickford-Smith: It is exactly that, a mix of everything, from reading books, sourcing ideas here, there, everywhere and spending hours in front of a computer fine tuning minute details before letting a design go to press.
AbeBooks: If you could design a cover for any book, which book would you choose?
Coralie Bickford-Smith: I have been so lucky to have ticked off many of my favourite book covers, working with the classics team in Penguin has made me one spoilt designer. I have just got to design a cover for Robinson Crusoe, which I wrote my dissertation on, that was on the list. I still would love to do a cover for William Blake.
AbeBooks: Can you tell us about some of the books you have on your bookshelf at home? What are you currently reading?
Coralie Bickford-Smith: My book selves are full of design books and Penguin classics. Its terrible to admit I have to let go of many of the books I have read as I am running out of space for the titles I have designed. Beside my bed live all the books I am reading right now. This month it varies from The Tibetan book of the Dead to Making Ideas Happen to The Sisters Brothers.
AbeBooks: The classics seem to have a special place in your design heart. Have you done any design work for new books?
Coralie Bickford-Smith: The classics will always have a special place in my heart as it's where I really got to run riot with my ideas on some amazing series of books. I am usually designing new books alongside the classics work I do as well.
AbeBooks: What was your first book cover you designed - how do you feel about it today?
Coralie Bickford-Smith: It was a book about hanging baskets and container gardening. At the time it was my first ever, real life, cover design and I was very scared to make a good impression. I think I did a good job of livening the book cover up, it was a small step to what I wanted to do so at the time it was a big milestone.
Penguin's Great Food Series, Box Set. Designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith.
Coralie Bickford-Smith: I am an enthusiast of the book as an object and I will always prefer the way a printed book works in my hand and tells the story of its existence in the folds and creases of its pages.
AbeBooks: Have you read all of the books you designed the covers for?
Coralie Bickford-Smith: I had attempted to read all the books I have designed and was doing pretty well until I had a year to design the Penguin English Library (100 books). I read as much as possible given the deadline. I love to get to read what I am designing for - it's what makes the job so pleasant.
AbeBooks: Secondhand bookstores are sacred places for some. Do you spend time wandering the aisles of bookshops? What do you look for when browsing for used books?
Coralie Bickford-Smith: That is also true for me, I am always searching for elusive old lettering/typography books. When I find one I am as pleased as punch no matter how big they are and how far I have to lug them home.
AbeBooks: You have a pretty serious fan base. There are numerous blog posts about you and your work, Tumblr feeds, celebrity endorsements etc. Who do you admire - designers, authors, literary characters?
Coralie Bickford-Smith: Yes, gaining a fan base was unexpected but highly appreciated by me, it's quite incredible.
Designers: Lousie Filli, Peter Mendelsund, Jenny Grigg, John Gray, John Gall, Romek Marber to name a few...
Authors: Ruai Mclean, Gertrude Stein, Charlotte Brontë, Rohinton Mistry, Milan Kundera, George Orwell, Peter Hoeg
Literary Characters: Winston Smith from 1984 and Viktor from Death and the Penguin.
AbeBooks: Who are your favourite illustrators? Living and dead?
Coralie Bickford-Smith: Dead: William Blake, William Morris, Rockwell Kent.
Alive: Matt Dorfman, David Gentleman, Andy Smith, Swava Harasymowicz, Lauren Child.
AbeBooks: Who do you admire in the book world.
Coralie Bickford-Smith: Visual Editions for their interesting "do-it-differently" approach to publishing. They do things to books that make me swoon with delight.
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