Celebrating a quarter century of CN Traveler

The 25th anniversary issue of Conde Nast Traveler (available at news stands both print and digital now!) is an extraordinary body of work and represents all that Design Director Rob Hewitt has been able to bring to the title since taking over the reigns back in 2011. The issue is a showcase of all that Traveler is great at: strong simple page composition, bold typography, ambitious info-graphics, smart illustration and of course the best travel photography in the business! This issue includes some stellar portraiture, great packaging and the type of nifty flourishes and attention to detail that will make you want to pick up a copy and keep it on your "ideas" shelf! Hewitt talks us through the issue after the jump. Congrats to his entire art and photo teams and here's to another 25 years!



Hewitt: We began the design of CNTraveler's September 25th Anniversary Issue as we entered the second half of 2012, which allowed us to build upon what we established in the early 2011 redesign -- new typefaces, a simplified page structure to help the eye navigate more easily, a simplified color palette, and a new stable of illustrators and photographers.
 
Traveler's September issue highlights the "Visionaries of the World," investigative reporting with "Too Much of a Good Thing," and epic journeys at unprecedented discounts in "The World on Sale."  In addition, we looked to work with the best of the best creative for this issue, commissioning illustrators like Jack Unruh to add artful whimsy to Jonathan Franzen's piece on bird watching in St. Lucia and Jamaica, utilizing Section Design from London for the mammoth (4 pg double gate-fold) info graphic section, and enlisting photographer Mark Seliger to shoot the cover among others.  
 
Being given the chance to showcase global citizens -- select individuals making the world a better place -- was an enviable task. From our cover subject Hillary Clinton, whom Mark ended up shooting in India after being postponed in China after the State Department called to say the shoot was off (all is explained in our Behind the Scenes section) to controversial artist Ai Wei Wei, whom we shot at his fake studio in China, there was no shortage of material to work with.    
 
As we began working out the structure we felt that using an ornate illustrated border would help signify the "special" that we were looking for and commissioning Walter C. Baumann in Portland, Oregon put us on the right path. He explored a couple of directions before we settled on one that was a perfect complement to our reoccurring serif typeface Leitura. Walter also added some elements that worked with our teardrop navigation device that runs atop each page within the Front of Book. Clean and sophisticated but playful at the same time, Walter's border treatments were those extra touches that separated this issue from any other this year.
 
To celebrate the 25 years of CNTraveler's "Truth in Travel" motto, we again turned to Walter to create an ornate ribbon motif that worked in a celebratory, yet non-obtrusive, way.

The 25th Anniversary issue offers up many of the staples that Traveler has offered over the years and the journey continues with our Digital Edition where we took advantage of the rich ingredients in the not-so-short "A Short History of the World"  by bringing this info graphic to life. As well as providing an alternate cover image and exclusive inside looks from our photo shoots. Check it out!

Photography Director Kathleen Klech
Graphics Director John Grimwade

Art Director Hitomi Sato
Associate Art Director Marina Grinshpun
Assistant Art Director Vanessa Shyu
Designers Kaitlyn Pepe, Sherry Wang

Deputy Photo Editor Esin Ili Goknar
Associate Photo Editor Jocelyn Miller
Photo Research Editor Nelida Mortensen
Photo Assistant Janice Gilman

Senior Graphics Director Joyce Pendola
Graphics Editor Haisam Hussein