The Ask: 17K

Poster for the 50 Books | 50 Covers Show. 2014

In 2011, two young, driven designers decided that the Fifty Books | Fifty Covers competition—threatened as it was at that moment with extinction—was worth fighting for.

And so, Christopher Sergio and Catherine Casalino started a website and a petition. Expressing their “commitment to the celebration of design excellence in books,” they boldly went where no designer had gone before, and gathered names and signatures that collectively revealed a groundswell of support. Many people came forward to support this initiative.

Over 1,200 of them, in fact.

Some were designers representing some of the nation’s most prestigious publishers. Others were educators, publication designers, and students. The turnout was impressive, the enthusiasm unmistakable. “There has been â€¨a common consensus that even in the digital age celebrating the physical book is important,” they wrote.

And we agree.

With 300 backers and counting, we know you’re out there: in studios and classrooms, offices and agencies, bookstores and presses where the printed page still has a fighting chance. Join us now in our goal to raise enough funding to publish this book and mount this exhibition. Now more than ever, we need your help to make it to the finish line, five short days from now.

Observed