Advertisement from The Learners: A Novel, design by Chip Kidd, 2008.

OUR STORY: It is the fall of 1961, in New Haven, Connecticut. Happy, the narrator of The Cheese Monkeys, has graduated from State with a Bachelor of Art’s degree (emphasis in Graphic Design) and has sought and found employment as a deputy lay-out artist at the small advertising agency of Spear, Rakoff and Ware. At this point in the book the firm is desperately trying to win the account for Buckle Shoes, a large footwear manufacturer that has just moved into town. And so, Happy and his colleague — the junior copywriter Tip Skikne — have placed an advertisement in the local paper to solicit opinions from prospective customers to help inform their pitch. Above is the ad as it ran.

Sequel to Cheese Monkeys. Read more of the excerpt after the jump.