March 2009 Archives

Those Krazy Kids at Esquire...

Are at it again. Video after the jump.  … MORE

WIRED UK

Hot on the heels of the new WIRED Italia comes the return of WIRED UK. Thanks to Andrew Diprose for the sneak peek at the May launch issue. … MORE

Let's Talk About Maps...

Visual journalist Sarah Slobin talks to longtime Time Magazine cartographer Joe Lertola and looks at some examples from his body of work.

The population maps are really nice, and I think its cute at the end when he says his cat likes to walk on his keyboard and send unfinished emails;) Check out the interview here.

Happy Hour on the West Coast: LA Networking Night

It's time for cocktails & conversation with our sunny members and colleagues in LA! (And those who just happen to be in the area next week, join in!)

SPD Networking Night, Thursday, April 2
7pm to 10pm (open bar for our members and friends until 8pm)

MANDRAKE BAR, 2692 S La Cienaga Blvd, Los Angeles

We're ditching the cold & the rain in NYC to see you there!

RIP: Blender

This is not the way we like to spend our Thursday mornings, Universe: Ad Age has the news that music mag Blender has closed. The current issue, with Kelly Clarkson on the cover, will be the last.

Makes our Q&A about the SPD PUB 44 Medal-finalist redesign last fall with Blender CD Dirk Barnett all the more bittersweet.

Complex

Tim Leong, DD at Complex, shares a look at their latest cover with Kanye West:

We just debuted our new cover online. It's Kanye West -- and it typical Kanye fashion, he wanted to do something extra crazy. The process is a long story, but to boil it down, we collaborated with Kanye and video director Chris Milk (Jesus Walks, All Falls Down) and the effects studio that did "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" to do a 3D body scan of Kanye. The studio built a CGI model of him and we worked together to create images for the story. It's basically a 100% 3D-rendered photoshoot.

Some behind-the-scenes video after the jump...
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Capturing Hand Painted Signs In the North

It's kind of like trying to tie your shoe while finding your way through a fun house at a county fair.

Recently, I was invited to go on a business trip for my sister's fashion line to Northern India. We visited factories and markets that specialize in tie-and-dye, buttons, lace, silk, embroidery and block printing. Seeing the whole process first hand made me really appreciate the work that artisans in India do. This also gave me the opportunity to be in narrow lanes and small districts that tourist don't visit.

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Design Challenges at Google

In this month's issue of WIRED, I was lucky enough to write a little piece about constraint in design and used the Google homepage as an example. Today, I came across a really great post from Doug Bowman, visual design lead at Google. Today is his last day with the company, and he explains some of the challenges he faced working in an engineer-focused culture, including this little gem:
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ASME Nominations Announced

Happy days for many of our SPD-friends this afternoon as the ASME Nominations are announced... scrolling down to the really IMPORTANT categories, we see:

DESIGN:  This category recognizes excellence in magazine design.  The award honors the effectiveness of overall design, artwork, graphics and typography in enhancing a magazines unique mission and personality.

    Bon Appétit;  Good;  GQ;  New York;  WIRED
 
PHOTOGRAPHY:  This category recognizes excellence in magazine photography.  The award honors the effectiveness of photography, photojournalism and photo illustration in enhancing a magazines unique mission and personality.

    Bon Appétit;  GQ;  National Geographic;  T, The New York Times Style Magazine;  W
 
PHOTOJOURNALISM: This category recognizes the informative photographic documentation of an event or subject in real-time.

    Harper's Magazine;  National Geographic;  The New York Times Magazine (2 nominations);  Time
 
PHOTO PORTFOLIO: This category honors creative photography and photo illustration (including portraiture or specially produced layouts on fashion, food, decorating, travel, design, the arts, etc.).

    Bon Appétit;  GQ;  Gourmet;  The New Yorker;  W

Congratulations to everyone for their amazing work, and be sure to check the ASME site for all the other great news about nominations for General Excellence, Reporting, and more! A good day for magazines!

NYAMBL Week 4

Just a quickie this am as I'm off to Austin for SXSW and a much needed break, good luck tonight teams! I forget what time zone it is but hit me with a text on the results! I'll for sure have a Shiner Bock in hand by then, have fun! /// HJ

GAME ONE

Comedy Central 2 vs. NBC
Men's Journal vs. Curbed
Comedy Central 1 vs. Food Network
Flavorpill vs. Freelancers
EW vs. Marie Claire
Best Life vs. BBC America

GAME TWO

Comedy Central 2 vs. Curbed
Men's Journal vs. NBC
Comedy Central 1 vs. Freelancers
Flavorpill vs. Food Network
EW vs. BBC America
Best Life vs. Marie Claire

GAME THREE

Comedy Central 2 vs. Marie Claire
Men's Journal vs. Freelancers
Comedy Central 1 vs. Best Life
Flavorpill vs. BBC America
EW vs. Curbed
Food Network vs. NBC

Missbehave

In one of our not-favorite trends, some new work from a magazine we might not be seeing more of in the future: Sally Thurer, Creative Director at Missbehave sends along their final cover before the magazine goes website-only, and a little backstory:

I wanted to submit the last cover of Missbehave (we suspended publication), featuring work from Jeremy Scott. He is amazing!

I've adored him since his 1997 Rich White Women collection which Björk wore for her Homogenic tour. He has a great sense of humor, and his collections themes like "Food Fight" (junk food) and "Tut TV." Recently, he has become known for his iconic prints. Missbehave has been featuring his designs since our very first issue, and we absolutely fell in love with his "Let Them Eat Gas" collection. Since Katy and Jeremy are friends, we thought they would be a perfect match for our cover. I was particularly drawn to the "Floral Flights" print on Katy's dress because it is partially inspired by Boy London -- a brand from the 80s/90s that I'm obsessed with. Jeremy was kind enough to send me the flowers from the dress to incorporate into the cover design.

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Monday Morning Inspiration: Modernista! in Just About A Minute

On April 16th (a month from today!) we're pleased to host an SPD@FIT evening with Gary Koepke, Co-founder and Executive Creative Director of Modernista!, the fastest-growing independent creative agency in the world. Gary will recollect his transformation from graphic designer into agency founder and owner, tell stories from the front lines of creative entrepreneurship, and share some thoughts on publication design, the work that launched his career and that he continues to pursue at Modernista!

A quick video shot of adrenaline, tickets on sale, and some of the highlights from Modernista! after the jump...
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Bowling Makes A Bad Day A Whole Lot Better

For want of nothing too saccharine post on this, a day when I really, literally, shouldn't have come to work, suffice it to say bowling will be the best part of my day. (I will try to remain unbiased but I might have to hang out the first game with... The Frisky vs. Modern Luxury? You can't make this stuff up.) Good luck teams! (ps. if you see me not hydrating correctly please remind me my exit interview is first thing in the am, neat.) /// H

Week Three:

GAME ONE

TV Land vs. Out
The Frisky vs. Modern Luxury
Time Out vs. Popular Mechanics
New York Mag 2 vs. Gawker
Zoom vs. New York Mag 1
Maxim vs. GQ

TV Land vs. Modern Luxury
The Frisky vs. Out
Time Out vs. Gawker
New York Mag 2 vs. Popular Mechanics
Zoom vs. GQ
Maxim vs. New York Mag 1

TV Land vs. GQ
The Frisky vs. Gawker
Time Out vs. Out
Zoom vs. Popular Mechanics
Maxim vs. Modern Luxury
New York Mag 2 vs. New York Mag 1

RIP: Best Life

Word is rippling around, but we've seen the "official" press release, and are sad to report that much-loved Best Life (just recently seen around these parts in NEW WORK) has been shuttered. More as we hear it.

10 Week Drum Roll...

May 8, 2009. The big day. Gala 44.
The finalists have been announced, and invites will be on the way before you know it. Keep a look out in your mail during the first week of April. Aside from honoring all the superb work and finding out who will be BEST IN SHOW, my partner-in-crime (Judith Puckett-Rinella) and I have an exciting night planned. Trust me when i say that you won't want to miss this one!

NYAMBuLance

The second round is upon us. Some of us had a rough beginning last week, our creaky joints and saddled behinds have been hibernation mode all winter. So in the light that we're all a little rusty (Tara) and everyone could use a little practice (Joel) below is a list of lanes around the city if you want to gear up off hours to prep for the big game. And not only is the more the merrier in this game...its way cheaper.

Though I got my highest score at Bowlmor (still researching the scientific evidence that dayglo improves your focus) my favorite is my pal's joint in Williamsburg: the vintage-designed Gutter, but go early because the kids stay late and drink long. Good luck!  /// H-Bomb

WEEK 2 - MARCH 4

TV LAND vs THE FRISKY
TIME OUT vs NEW YORK MAGAZINE 2
ZOOM vs MAXIM
CURBED vs NBC-LOCAL
THE FREELANCERS vs FOOD NETWORK MAG
MARIE CLAIRE vs BBC AMERICA
---
TV LAND vs TIME OUT
ZOOM vs CURBED
NEW YORK MAGAZINE 2 vs MAXIM
BBC AMERICA vs NBC-LOCAL
THE FREELANCERS vs MARIE CLAIRE
FOOD NETWORK MAG vs THE FRISKY
---
TV LAND vs ZOOM
BBC AMERICA vs CURBED
FOOD NETWORK MAG vs MAXIM
TIME OUT vs MARIE CLAIRE
THE FREELANCERS vs NBC-LOCAL
NEW YORK MAGAZINE 2 vs THE FRISKY


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Arena to Close Its Doors

More glum news for our friends across the pond.

As you might have heard, Arena has suspended publication after 22 years.

The final edition goes on sale next week, featuring an interview with The House Bunny's comic bombshell Anna Faris, an exclusive face-to-face encounter with Mike Tyson, a portfolio of the most stunning indie music girls and a report on the rise of the 'new amateur entrepreneurs'.

There's a celebration of '80s cars, profiles of Watchmen star Matthew Goode and maverick surfing legend Greg Long, and the return of Flight Of The Conchords - plus Liverpool hero Jamie Carragher selects his 'First and Last'. There's also the usual pages of fashion and grooming, opinion, music and film reviews.

The April 2009 issue of Arena is on sale on 12 March.

A Night Under the Influence...

... of illustration is a great way to spend a night. Huge thanks to the illustrators who shared their experiences and advice, covering everything from finding, accepting, and turning down work to rights and copyright issues, good and bad art directors, editors, dream jobs, nightmare clients, and everything in between: Peter Arkle, Juliette Borda, Tim O'Brien, Christopher Silas Neal, Katherine Streeter and Jillian Tamaki. An extra-special thanks to Ted McGrath and Yuko Shimizu (in person!) for signing copies of their posters for the give-away, and to  Mark Heflin of American Illustration (don't forget! Thursday morning, March 5th, is the FINAL DEADLINE for AI 28) for moderating this discussion so well we actually got booted from the amphitheatre for staying so long!

The night's opening video, created by Grace Martinez and featuring work from the illustrators and a soundtrack from artists who've all been under a different kind of influence, after the jump...
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Eddie Guy

Keeping in mind that tonight is our Do It With Illustration: Under the Influence with Today's Most Arresting Illustrators panel at FIT, a little New Work today from illustrator Eddie Guy, who's been trying out some new tricks of the trade:

Here's a few experimental images I've been working on. I have always been interested in sculpture,  and have recently discovered how to "build" images through 3D software. 3D rendering has provided a way to approach imagery as a sculptor and it has been a nice variation from my usual routine. These images include a studies of a Skull (above), Hellboy, a Biker Girl and Nike (after the jump).

Don't forget that there are signed posters for the first guests at tonight's SPD@FIT event, so be there when the doors open at 6:30, and click through for more inspiring illustration...
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New York

The folks at New York magazine sent us a peek behind the scenes at their cover for the annual "Best of" issue:

For this week's "Best of New York" issue, New York magazine invited several designers, artists, and advertising creatives to submit ideas for the cover art.  We went with the design from Brooklyn-based street artist KAWS, a.k.a. Brian Donnelly, whose career has skyrocketed recently with exhibitions in Miami and New York last year and a just-opened solo show in Los Angeles (the line to get in reportedly stretched 700 yards down La Cienaga).  He designed Kanye West's latest album cover, which is currently installed on a Times Square billboard.

More from KAWS about the cover, and a few samples from the slideshow of other submissions after the jump...
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