Penguin Random House UK's longtime art director John Hamilton, who "joined Penguin in 1997 after specializing in illustration at the Glasgow School of Art and Design," died earlier this month, the Bookseller reported. He was 55. Hamilton was responsible for art directing Penguin General's hardback imprints, Viking, Hamish Hamilton, Michael Joseph, Fig Tree and Penguin Ireland, as well as its Penguin paperback editions. He launched the "iconic" covers of the Penguin Essentials in 1998.
In a note to staff, PRH UK CEO Tom Weldon wrote: "I have worked longer with John than any other colleague at Penguin Random House. We met 30 years ago when I was a young editor at William Heinemann and John had just started his first job as a jacket designer, having recently graduated from Glasgow School of Art.... He helped discover many talented designers, illustrators, photographers and artists at the beginning of their careers, and became friends with many of them."
Weldon added that Hamilton "was also a hugely popular colleague. He was completely unmanageable (I tried for nine years) and he drove people crazy with his constant knack of missing deadlines. A regular refrain to exasperated editors was that a vital piece of artwork was 'on a bike.' But in the end everyone forgave him because he was funny, charming, and just very, very talented. He had an incredible spirit and it helped define this company."
Fellow designer Jonathan Gray told the Bookseller that Hamilton "was a big-hearted and brilliantly creative man who could always find a new angle, a new avenue or a new story. Like many other designers in publishing, I owe my whole career to John. His faith, encouragement and direction made me a better designer and a better person.... John was bold, brave and colorful--always with a new story to tell. Everything will be a little greyer without him."