Chapman & Wilder Create Cross-Continental Design Studio

Book cover designers Cherie Chapman and Eric Wilder have joined forces to create Chapman & Wilder, a new studio that spans specialties and, well, the Atlantic. Chapman, a Brit, and Wilder, an American, have gathered their collective expertise in design, layouts, and marketing and have enlisted the talents of photographers and animators. They have also created a new website where their passion project lives.

Here’s why Chapman & Wilder should make you excited about the future of book cover design:

A Friendship for the Books

Chapman and Wilder began their friendship the way most busy nerds must: on the internet. Chapman explains that she became aware of Wilder for his work as Editor-In-Chief of Spine Magazine, a primarily online publication that covers the best in book design. “For years, I've followed Eric's dedication to Spine Magazine and his passion for book covers. I love his own work and style,” Chapman said. “We've been talking over the last 6 months about design, feedback for each other's projects and discovered we have a lot of mutual respect for one another. We have very similar work ethics and thought we could work together professionally.”

Wilder, too, admired Cherie’s work and felt that together they could create something unprecedented. “I wanted to work with Cherie not only for her amazing talent, but also for the amount of enthusiasm she’s displayed over the years I’ve gotten to know her while working for Spine,” Wilder said. “I’ve been talking to her on a weekly basis since the summer of 2019 about book cover design, and eventually we thought it would be very cool to form a small studio operation of our own,” Wilder said. This studio differs from other collaborative projects because, at least for now, it exists where Chapman and Wilder’s friendship began: the internet. “Chapman & Wilder is a digital space where we can openly (albeit virtually) share ideas and resources between each other.”

Twice the Experience, and Then Some

We won’t belabor the fact that two are better than one. What we will celebrate, however, is the delightful combination of Chapman and Wilder’s aesthetics and career experience. Chapman’s covers feature vibrant color and bold illustrations, while Wilder’s covers lean more toward neutral tones, often muted color schemes, and gorgeous sans-serif fonts. Chapman has worked in-house and freelance for publishers like Hodder & Stoughton and HarperCollins, while Wilder has experience in promotional packaging and publishing with university presses. The diversity of Chapman and Wilder’s aesthetics and professional backgrounds, however, helps make their team a strong new force in the world of book design.

Although both Chapman and Wilder have over three decades of collective experience and some particularly shiny design portfolios to show for it, the two have also enlisted the skills and artistic flair of UK-based photographer Jasmine Aurora Poole and US-based designer, illustrator, and animator Caitlin Cadieux. Together, the Chapman & Wilder team hopes to provide its clients with a range of creative styles and abilities from which the perfect book cover can emerge. 

It’s Not Them, It’s You

While Chapman & Wilder began from an online friendship, the new studio now has one goal: for the team’s passion and expertise to serve every client best. “Cherie and I knew that this studio could be a place where we help each other out with our own designs. We each have skills that compliment the other’s, but [Chapman & Wilder] is about more than that,” Wilder said. “We created this studio to provide a greater range of options for our clients. Different clients need different types of designs, and now we have created a space where we can better meet those differing needs.”

If you love books and the covers in which they live, you need to be excited about Chapman & Wilder. The world of books is about to become leagues more beautiful.

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