Those of you familiar with designer Chip Kidd know he does book covers with gusto, and those of you who don’t have no doubt seen his work at your local B&N. To coincide with the release of Chip Kidd: Book One: Work: 1986-2006, the Cooper Union’s Mike Essl has curated an exhibition that will be on display at The Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography until February 4. It is free of charge (and it’s been said the best things in life are) and easy to digest after a large brunch or before a light lunch.

As you enter the exhibition a preteen photo of Kidd stares at you. Some artwork is displayed flat while most is worn by books. The anecdotes, quotes, scribbled notes and faxes from art directors, authors and Kidd himself that accompany the work bring it to life. I found the projects in which the designer creates a witty dialog between jacket and hard cover to be most inspiring. Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a stunning example: a photograph of a tin bird wraps the paper jacket that when removed reveals a Chris Ware illustration of gears and gadgets that might make up the toy’s innards.

I can’t talk about Kidd without mentioning The Cheese Monkeys, a humorous novel inspired by his time as an art student. Appropriate for designers and non-designers alike, it explores the process of learning to think like a designer. If you haven’t read it, do. I’m going start handing it out to people who when they find that I’m a designer, proceed to ask me about desktop publishing.