I always look forward to AIGA’s annual 50 Books/50 Covers show because it presents many publications that I would otherwise not have a chance to see. In addition to book jackets designed to make a novel leap off the shelf and into your hands, cookbooks that would make your mouth water, and art publications that open new worlds, there are corporate and institutional pieces that pull out all the stops, from design to production and beyond. (Photo from opening, December 7th: Peggy Roalf)

The exhibition design for this year’s edition is a model of clever restraint. Platforms displaying the larger-format titles consist of press sheets stacked up to coffee-table height. Smaller-format titles are arranged by size on narrow shelves along one side of the gallery. On the other side is a fun game that tests the snob appeal that books have for visitors, who are asked to vote yea or nay to questions like, “I would never give an e-book as a gift.” And "I silently judge others by their bookshelves." Ballots consist of old volumes in library carts, red for "agree" and black for "disagree." Nice touch.

According to the checklist pamphlet for the show, the jurors, headed by Chip Kidd of Alfred A. Knopf New York,  found the need to articulate some of the attributes that, intuitively, guided their selections. These ran the gamut from “Design that doesn’t follow convention” to “Design that entices you to want to learn more” to “Design that makes you shriek with delight.”

There is much to see and appreciate here. 50 Books/50 Covers of 2010 continues through February 23rd at the AIGA National Design Center, 164 Fifth Avenue (between 21^st and 22^nd Streets), NY, NY. Information.

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