YSB Magazine: Classic 1990s Covers

The early 1990s was a vibrant time for magazine publishing. It seemed like great new magazines were being launched every day: Entertainment Weekly, Martha Stewart Living, InStyle, the Conde Nast version of Details, Vibe, and many more. One of my favorites from that period was YSB ("Young Sisters and Brothers"), first published by BET in September 1991. An editor's note referred to YSB as "the first national lifestyle magazine geared to the interests and concerns of African American teenagers and young adults." The magazine featured brilliant cover photography of hip hop artists and actors, and a bold graphic look by its creative directors, first Fo Wilson, and later Lance Pettiford. Other art directors at YSB included Elizabeth Rodriguez, Gregory Atkins, Steve Jones, Mia Dahlmer, and Anissa Smith, and the photo editor was Steven Chin. Like many magazines from that era, YSB is woefully under-archived (someone badly needs to do some serious collecting and scanning of Details, Wig Wag, The Source, New York Woman, Arena, Premiere...). Thanks to Lance Pettiford, who is currently doing elegant work as design director at JCK magazine, we've got a dozen very cool and memorable covers of YSB right here at SPD!

(Above): YSB, January 1993. Creative directors: Fo Wilson and Elizabeth Rodriguez, photographer: Jason Keeling.