Print is dying. Print is dead. The publishing business is toast. I can’t believe you don’t have a Kindle/iPad. Isn’t that bag too heavy with a hardcover book in it? Common refrains these days, especially here in the tech innovation center of the world: the Bay Area. And, wonderfully, the cool cats at McSweeney’s just...

Garland Kirkpatrick, founder of the social-design consultancy Helvetica Jones, grew up in Chicago in the 1960s, where the dichotomy of the city's racial politics and its sublime architecture had a profound impact on him and helped drive him toward a career in design.

Call for entries: Nominate books and book covers worthy of consideration to this year’s “50 Books/50 Covers Competition,” hosted by Design Observer.