Jason Booher
We've got a file on NYC book jacket designer Jason Booher.
In each edition of Dossier, Nothing Major pulls classified profiles from our ultra secret cache of documents and posts them on the Internet. The old adage "never judge a book by its cover" is a wise one, but when it comes to design, our eyes (and credit cards) can't help but pay tribute to a well-shaped book jacket. Brooklyn-based Jason Booher has us swooning over his highly bold and formal approach to literature. Booher designs book covers at Alfred A. Knopf, teaches at Parsons School for Design, and designs with his wife, Helen Yentus, under the name Yentus & Booher. This week, Booher answers the Nothing Major Dossier questionnaire.
Name: Jason Booher
DOB: September, 1976
Current City: New York
Current occupation: Graphic designer
Career defining moment: Hopefully it hasn't happened yet
Last design item you bought: I just bought an old German book on the physics of bridge building because it was full of these beautiful line illustrations of the forces at play in various types of bridges. I have always been a sucker for abstract technical illustrations like these or electrical circuits. There were some diagrams of computer chips in an artist's choice room at the MoMA recently, which were ridiculously amazing.
Most beloved item of clothing (past or present): My father's hand-tailored shirt with initials embroidered on breast pocket. He got a few things tailored for him on the way back from Vietnam. The wonderful thing is the strange interpretation of blackletter mixed with some other kind of calligraphic letter.
Most treasured design object: My kitchen knives. I have a mix of knives: Wusthof, Messermeister, Tojiro, Henckels. My Messermeister chef's knife and Wusthof santoku are the ones I use the most.
Worst trend you regret embracing: I had a wedge haircut for about three years in '90s. I was only 14 (at first), but still.
Favorite room in the house: The living room. It's the light and the trees from McGolrick Park that make it for me.
Favorite museum or gallery: I have really fond memories of the National Gallery in London. I can remember exactly the path I would first take to go and look at the Degas paintings Combing the Hair and Miss La La. But these days I spend more time at the MoMA than anywhere else.
Drink of choice: I fell in love with coffee in Australia so I have always craved a good flat white since then. Luckily my local coffee shop makes their lattes with just about the same milk-to-espresso ratio and no foam. As for the other thing, I'll share a Brooklyn Pennant Ale with anyone at my home, and a Brooklyn Lager at the bar (although Yuengling on tap is a solid go to if available). In the end, however, no beer will ever be like a Kilkenny for me. It's a golden thick creamy Irish beer that I got to know living in England. Sadly you can't get that liquid heaven here.
Artist/designer you collect: I have, from time to time, spent hours looking through book stores and online for really good old book covers. I have some Lustigs, and Paul Rands and many more by anonymous designers. Honestly, while I'm a random magpie, I don't have the commitment or drive to be a true collector. I spent a few years shifting through the masses of sameness that came out of the art/toy world but it was an expensive habit and I stopped when it became harder to find something that was strange or interesting.
Artist/designer you'd like to collect: Oh there are so many that are out of reach. I would love walls filled with Ruscha's word painting. Or, I suppose, Ladislav Sutnar's work before moving to U.S.
Favorite album cover: I'm not really sure about this one. I really like the Provocative Percussion (and the Persuasive Percussion) designed by Josef Albers for Command Records.
The best video ever was directed by: Michel Gondry. It's hard to choose just one Gondry video, but among my favorites are: Kylie Minogue, "Come Into My World"; The White Stripes, "The Hardest Button to Button"; Daft Punk, "Around the World". I love the absurdity mixed with the formal repetition and contemporary Busby Berkeley insanity of it all.
Secret obsession: Art Nouveau design. As a designer who drifts towards modern formalism, it was interesting to discover how much dynamic power this period has to offer. It's not just about prettiness or style. The foundation of abstraction in Art Nouveau, specifically the linear abstraction, is fully realized in many different ways.
