S9E4: Na Kim

Na Kim is an associate creative director at the book publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Kim talked about how authors fear being misunderstood when someone designs a cover for their book:

I think it’s really important to convey to them: Hey, I did read the book, I do care about this, and we’re making these choices because we care about it. And maybe interpreting it this way, even though it’s not what you may have originally envisioned, will bring your book to a whole new audience.

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If you enjoyed this conversation with Na, you might want to listen to Jessica’s earlier conversation with Teddy Blanks.

This season’s theme music is from Solar Echoes, by Nigel Stanford.

And a big thanks to this season’s sponsor, Mailchimp.

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By Jessica Helfand & Ellen McGirt

Jessica Helfand, a founding editor of Design Observer, is an award-winning graphic designer and writer and a former contributing editor and columnist for Print, Communications Arts and Eye magazines. A member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale and a recent laureate of the Art Director’s Hall of Fame, Helfand received her B.A. and her M.F.A. from Yale University where she has taught since 1994.

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Ellen McGirt is an author, podcaster, speaker, community builder, and award-winning business journalist. She is the editor-in-chief of Design Observer, a media company that has maintained the same clear vision for more than two decades: to expand the definition of design in service of a better world. Ellen established the inclusive leadership beat at Fortune in 2016 with raceAhead, an award-winning newsletter on race, culture, and business. The Fortune, Time, Money, and Fast Company alumna has published over twenty magazine cover stories throughout her twenty-year career, exploring the people and ideas changing business for good. Ask her about fly fishing if you get the chance.