September 2008 Archives

Sarah Palin [Hearts] Magazines!

This just in from CBS News:

Couric: And when it comes to establishing your worldview, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this to stay informed and to understand the world?

Palin: I've read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media.

Couric: What, specifically?

Palin: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years.

Couric: Can you name a few?

Palin: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news, too. Alaska isn't a foreign country, where it's kind of suggested, "Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C., may be thinking when you live up there in Alaska?" Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.

Video after the jump.
… MORE

New York Magazine's 40th Birthday: The Print Edition

If only we would all celebrate our 40th birthdays with this kind of fervor: our friends at New York magazine have their huge anniversary issue on the newsstand this week, and it's a beauty. What we can find inside, and some behind-the-scenes photos after the jump... … MORE

PAPER TO PIXELS: Who is Jeremy LaCroix?

We've got one... and he's still alive, too.
A magazine guy who has jumped into the web with both feet...and very recently.
He's got some serious explaining to do.

Jeremy LaCroix, former art director of WIRED, is the creative director of Lifestyles at CBS interactive which includes Chow.com, Chowhound.com and Urbanbaby.com.
… MORE

CS4 Video Tutorial Site

Adobe released CS4 this week and their how-to magazine site, Layersmagazine.com, also launched the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Learning Center with forty video tutorials. … MORE

PAPER TO PIXELS: Who is Khoi Vinh?

Some would argue that no medium will be affected more by the internet than newspapers.
We've tracked down the man responsible for bringing one of the largest newspapers in the world online.

Khoi Vinh is the Design Director for NYTimes.com, where he leads the design group in user experience innovation. He and his team are responsible for the creative design of new online features, functionality and content for the industry-leading news site.
… MORE

Office Inspiration

What do you tack up to keep the juices flowing? … MORE

New York Leads with Six Nominations in ASME Cover Contest

The finalists for the 2008 ASME Cover Contest were announced today.

New York leads all nominees with 6 nods, including one for Cover of the Year (above), with the newly revamped Interview and The New Yorker, which received 4 total nominations. WIRED received three nominations, followed by The New York Times Magazine, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Texas Monthly, TIME, and Vanity Fair, all with 2 nominations apiece.

See all of the winners here.

Under Pressure

Regardless of having great content and amazing imagery to design with here at W, it often takes quite a number of typographical explorations to create the right solution for a layout (especially when I'm thrown a couple of curve balls as editors rewrite their headlines!)

Check out the short video below documenting a sample of my design evolution for a profile story about Anne Hathaway, photographed by Mario Sorrenti and featured in the current, October issue of W.

… MORE

Photos from the CITY

It's been some time since SPD requested mounted boards as part of the Annual submissions package, but views of the new book out from CITY magazine, "CITY: A Photography Retrospective, Vol. 1" brought some nostalgia for the days when we did, giving those of us in the office the opportunity to spend real quality time with each year's winning work, lovingly presented at their best, and we could position it about the office, agog in the design, typography and photography on display, no ads, no blow-in cards, just full, goregous spreads.
… MORE

A (Live) Infograph Worth a Thousand Words

Noticed that at the nytimes.com all morning they were featuring a live streaming infograph of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in a prominent spot usually reserved for journalistic photography. As an image alone, I think it might just capture a bit of the anxiety (and some reflief) we've experienced over the past few days.

Paris, Bound

If you're lucky enough to get to Paris, wandering along the aged, off-kilter, one-lane sidestreets of Le Marais is an instantly nostalgia-inducing joy.

Sometimes it becomes surreally anachronistic, and the other day, strolling the too-narrow sidewalk of rue de Sévigné, I found myself obstructed by a free-form gaggle of high-school-aged kids doing what high-school-aged kids do, chatting, smoking, flirting, giggling, comparing their discreet ink and timid piercings, and--of course!--singing, in loving harmony, snippets of kitschy American standards of the '40s and '50s.
… MORE

The Gold Rush

Legendary San Francisco designer Louis Friend once wrote, "Mistakes only happen once... Do it twice and you've created a great golden look!" In that spirit, we're happy to announce the first of many upcoming events to be held in the western territories. To kickoff the SPD West event series, San Francisco will host a night of social networking (nicely timed with the ASME American Magazine Conference).

Please join us: Sunday, October 5, 7-10 pm
DaDa SF Studio 86 Second Street, San Francisco
Located near the Market/Montgomery Bart Station

Featuring a hosted bar from 7-8 pm

See you there!… MORE

UPDATED: Speakeasy Opening Night SOLD OUT

Look at these 210 covers of The New York Times Magazine. Among these award-winners are solutions that Arem Duplessis didn't think worked although all were printed. Which ones? How do they do it every week? Why do they call it 'The Funny Pages'? After the newspaper gives you the headlines, The NYT Magazine puts news and ideas in context with amazing photojournalism, innovative type design, inspiring fashion and even comics.… MORE

Atlantic Editor Apologizes for Jill Greenberg Images

More fallout today from the Greenberg-gate John McCain photo controversy.

The Atlantic's PR agency released this statement on behalf of editor James Bennet. … MORE

Beautiful Books

When I'm looking to get my creative juices flowing sometimes I log on to Optosbooks.com.… MORE

"Elegance and Toughness"

Our good pal Luke Hayman has just completed a redesign of Vibe, now in its 15th year. He describes the look on the Pentagram blog as drawing inspiration from the Gary Koepke, Bob Newman, and Florian Bachleda days, even bringing back the 1993 drawing of Vibe Gothic, combining it with Leitura Display (above).… MORE

Nothing But a Ballpoint Pen

For the September issue of Los Angeles, art director Joe Kimberling collaborated with illustrator and type designer Marian Bantjes to create the cover. The solution, done solely with a blue ballpoint pen, is a notebook covered with doodles inspired by a creative, yet distracted high school student. As Marian says on the contributors page "I did everything but the bar code". Check out more of her amazing work here.

Just In Case You Missed It

A few things we haven't blogged about (yet), but have been on our minds:

Lots of chatter about Esquire's 75th anniversary issue, from the E-Ink cover to the inside packages.

Imitiation is the sincerest form of flattery? More chatter about the newly relaunched, "purely coincidental" LA Times Magazine.

Annie Leibovitz on four of her most memorable shots from Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair.

Google's making plans to re-publish 244 years of newspaper articles, where the archives are free and, most importantly in this realm of the world, presented in the same way they originally appeared in print.

New reads: Singular Magazine, for singles in Los Angeles, launched September 9th in the City of Angels; Parade HealthyStyle, a spin-off, healthy-style, of Parade, launching September 17th; and Food Network Magazine, a collaboration between Hearst and the Food Network, scheduled to premiere October 14th.

Now, just for fun, test your color IQ.

Nothing Like the First Time

The Premiere Issues Project is a site dedicated to magazine covers of first issues. Click on a cover and get stats like name, dimensions, publisher and -- most importantly -- art direction and design.

… MORE

Relax Your Mind and Let Your Conscience Be Free

Indulge me for a moment...

VIBE magazine had it's 15th anniversary this year, with a blow-out NYC party in August, and I got all nostalgic. I didn't attend, mind you, as fate would have it, I live in San Francisco now (go figure), working with one of the best art departments in the business at 520 3rd St. (Wired). When I heard that VIBE had hit the big 1-5, and that they were throwing an anniversary bash, it made me think of the scattered 5 years or so I spent at 215 Lexington Ave., working with the equally great art department at VIBE.
… MORE

For People Who Give A Damn! Some GOOD news

Were you handed something different while paying $5 for that Mint Mocha Chip Frappuccino blended coffee drink this morning?  I'm not talking about someone's wailing kid, I'm talking about the premiere of GOOD SHEET.

… MORE

Nancy Harris Rouemy: The NY Mag McCain Cover Challenge

I don't know what was more rousing last night--watching Bill O'Reilly challenge Barack Obama to explain his association with Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers, or watching Dirk Barnett, the skillful Creative Director of Blender, challenge Walter Bernard, Milton Glaser, Bob Newman, Adam Moss and Chris Dixon to a cover solution competition at the start of the panel discussion celebrating the 40th birthday for New York magazine, held at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York city.

''If McCain gets elected, New York's cover would be what?,'' Barnett asked provocatively. "You will get to answer at the end of our discussion.'' I couldn't stop scanning the panel from left to right, and right to left, wondering if these guys were internally crying to the heavens above for a clever solution or tucking the task in their subconscious so that they could focus on the questions at hand. I initially gave myself the same challenge; 30 problem-solving seconds later, I cut myself a break after reminding myself, this is my one night out -- enjoy! And so I did.
… MORE

Movie! Movie!

I don't know who this Steven Hill character is, but I think I'm in love. He's got a website of just movie titles--that's it. … MORE

Words as Art

Oh the insanity! Custom typography?

Have you noticed that more and more magazines are using custom typography? If you are like me, whenever you come across one it's like finding a $5 bill in your pocket. Every time I open up a magazine and see some custom type I eat it up. These little works of art are scrumptuous. Also, if you are like me you look at the credit to see who did the work. And if you are really like me you read the name or at least sound it out and try to figure out where they found this guy or girl.

Well here is one place to find some great talent.
… MORE

Posters With a Punch

For inspiration with a shot of adrenalin, check out "Modern Dog: 20 Years of Poster Art (not canine-related)." Robynne Raye and Mike Stassburger, the principals at Seattle-based Modern Dog, have been breaking design molds since 1987. This book, beautifully displaying 226 posters, is a testament to their unwavering energy and creativity.


… MORE

A Treasure on Your Bookshelves

… MORE

Saul Bass on His Film Titles

The title says it all. 35 minutes of pure goodness; a little something for your Wednesday.

"New E-Newspaper Reader Echoes Look of the Paper"

There is a notable piece in the NYtimes today about a new electronic newspaper reader from Plastic Logic due out next year. It seems to be similar in many ways to the Kindle, but larger in size and looks to have the ability to display layouts.

While I don't own a Kindle, I was blown away recently when I sat next to a subway rider using one. The legibility was so good I could even read over his shoulder.

From the article ...

... "Even though we have positioned this for business documents, newspapers is what everyone asks for," Mr. Archuleta said.

The reader will go on sale in the first half of next year. Plastic Logic will not announce which news organization will display its articles on it until the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, when it will also reveal the price.

Read the full NYtimes article for more.

Panorama Project 3

Saturday night was the opening of  The Panorama Project at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery (curated by Jordan Islip and Rodger Stevens) where 134 artists created 5x7 panels that shared a horizon line.  The weather that night was stormy, but the gallery was still packed. People who had arrived by subway were dripping wet (myself included) and there were piles of umbrellas by the elevators. A few who'd clearly come door to door in car services were looking impeccably artsy and fabulously dry.
… MORE

(Not So Rubber-) Necking

Despite prolonging an already long drive, one of my absolute favorite things to do on a road trip is to stop along the way for anything that catches my attention (i.e. farmer's markets, yard sales, unique shops.) 
… MORE

Olafur & Fish Tacos

While Labor Day may have passed and your white bucks are ready for winter storage, summer doesn't technically end until September 21st. So there is still time enjoy great weather outside with your best pals and an adult beverage. If you are looking for a nice and fun new place to go, I have a great suggestion:
… MORE

Power Pens: The Art of Politics

There is nothing like a history-making presidential campaign to bring out the insight, outrage and humor in publishing's top illustrators and visual journalists. Curated by Edel Rodriguez, The Society of Illustrators is presenting the original work of twenty five top illustrators and their contributions to the campaign season including Barry Blitt's controversial New Yorker cover of Barack and Michele Obama. The show opens at the carriage house on 63rd St. in New York October 4th and I made a campaign stop with Philip Burke, Steve Brodner, Dan Adel and Victor Juhasz. 
… MORE

Gray Areas (To Be Sure)

A reader asked:

I would love to hear comments on what to do when an illustrator takes an art director's creative concept and uses it in another publication.

Recently, I hired an illustrator. Gave him a clear concept of what we wanted executed. The illustrator did the work (not deviating from this concept) but we decided to kill the illustration because it wasn't meeting our needs aesthetically. Paid the illustrator in full. We ended up with a more graphic interpretation that we did in-house. The illustrator took our concept and his illustrations that he did for us and sold them to a competing publication (that came out the same week as ours).

Although the artwork was property of the illustrator, it was our creative concept.... What do you do in this situation? Seems like a gray area.

Our thoughts...
… MORE

Joyce Rutter Kaye: Out of Print

Via yesterday's Daily Heller...

Today is Joyce Rutter Kaye's last day as editor-in-chief of PRINT. After ten years, she will be joining NYC & Company, New York City's official tourism, marketing, and partnership organization, as senior editorial director.... Picking up from long-time PRINT editor Martin Fox, Joyce impressed her own personality on the magazine. She oversaw its current redesign, its greater adherence to the news, its increased critical stance, and its renewed vitality as a chronicle of the new while respecting history. Under Joyce, PRINT racked up more American Society of Magazine Editors' National Magazine Award nominations and two major awards. She has built an enviable staff of design journalists and editors. At a time when the web threatens to make print obsolete, Joyce has made the magazine more vigorous and the PRINT site more active.

Eyes of the Hurricane

Even as New Orleans mops up from the pummeling of Gustav, the story of Katrina still echoes. What must it be like to live through the most deadly natural disaster in American history? We've seen it covered in words and photographs and statistics and infographics, but check out an amazing telling in comic form: the just-completed A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge. … MORE

Back to School

I've been teaching at SVA for a really long time. I actually can't even remember how long, but it's got to be at least 16 or 50 years now. Sometimes it's great, and sometimes it's inconvenient. Occasionally, it's incredibly frustrating. But that said, I wouldn't take back the many hours I've invested in the classroom and only wish more designers taught, too. Here's why:… MORE

New York Magazine's 40th Birthday

… MORE

Report from Denver

Attending a political party convention for the first time for any political junkie is an exciting and unpredictable experience. SPD being the non-partisan organization that it needs to be, I promised Emily I would stay away from politics, and only try to report compelling examples of graphics and design on display.
… MORE