WHAT IS THE SPD?
For over 40 years, the Society of Publication Designers has been a driving force for quality and innovation in publication design. It is the one venue in which the best of the best continually strive.

SPD encourages artistic excellence by judging annually the work of thousands of design professionals in the United States and abroad. The activities of SPD promote the art director's role as visual journalist and partner in the editorial process -- the partner responsible for telescoping and shaping information, the one who gives tone to an editorial voice.

Since drafting its charter in 1965, SPD remains the only organization specifically addressing the concerns of trade, corporate, institutional, newspaper and consumer editorial art directors. Guidance is provided by a board of directors composed of top editorial art directors and allied professionals. The Society provides programs which explore the collaborative work of the best illustrators, photographers and typographers, and constantly examines the real impact of evolving technologies.



THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

OFFICERS

Bruce Ramsay
President
Director of Covers, Newsweek
(Board Member through April 2008)

Amid Capeci
Vice-President
Assistant Managing Editor, Design, Newsweek
(Board Member through April 2009)

Mitch Shostak
Vice-President
Creative Director, Shostak Studios
(Board Member through April 2008)

Francesca Messina
Secretary
Senior Art Director, Workman Publishing
(Board Member through April 2008)

Gretchen Smelter
Treasurer
Creative Director, Brides
(Board Member through April 2009)

BOARD MEMBERS

Dirk Barnett
Creative Director, Blender
(Board Member through April 2010)

Deb Bishop
Design Director, Blueprint
(Board Member through April 2009)

Jennifer Crandall
Director of Photography, O, The Oprah Magazine
(Board Member through April 2008)

Scott Dadich
Creative Director, Wired
(Board Member through April 2009)

Michael Grossman
Editorial and Design Consultant
(Board Member through April 2010)

Geraldine Hessler
Design Director, Entertainment Weekly
(Board Member through April 2009)

George Karabotsos
Design Director, Men's Health
(Board Member through April 2009)

Brandon Kavulla
Art Director, Best Life
(Board Member through April 2010)

Diana La Guardia
Art Director
(Board Member through April 2008)

Robert Perino
Design Director, Fortune
(Board Member through April 2010)

Linda Root
Design Director, Studio Incubate
(Board Member through April 2008)

Catherine Talese
Photo Consultant
(Board Member through April 2010)

Casey Tierney
Director of Photography, Real Simple
(Board Member through April 2010)





MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS
Membership allows you to join a community of your peers, obtain crucial information on the inner workings of your profession, and meet other talented and influential art directors. As a design professional, can you afford to be outside all of this information and activity? Other benefits include:

• Complimentary copies of the Publication Design Annual and The SPOTS Book
• Access to health, disability and life insurance
• Reduced entry fees for the publication design competition
• Significantly reduced admission to the SPD Gala
• Advance notices of upcoming speaker events
• Reduced admission to the speaker programs
• Free subscription to GRIDS, the Society's newsletter
• Automatic subscription to INAnet, the essential job resource e-mail blast with listings specifically for editorial art directors, designers and photo editors
• Notices of portfolio reviews
• Private invitations to Networking Nights
  

HEALTH, DISABILITY and LIFE INSURANCE
In our economic slowdown, designers are finding themselves downsized without warning, rehired as a freelancer without benefits at the same magazines and unable to pay the high cost of former insurance coverage through COBRA. Because our members need this basic protection, we partnered with WORKING TODAY, a nonprofit organization representing the needs and concerns of independent workers through advocacy, information and service.

Independent workers, freelancers, consultants, independent contractors, part-timers, contingent employees and the self-employed-currently make up about 30% of the nation’s workforce, as well as a growing number of our SPD members.

Partner benefits through WORKING TODAY'S FREELANCERS UNION include access to your choice of three group-rate health insurance plans through HIP of New York, as well as access to life and disability insurance, dental insurance and a range of other discounted services. Best of all, the application fee to join is waived for SPD members.

These plans present a viable option for those who do not have health insurance through an employer, or who seek an alternative to expensive COBRA plans. To enroll, you must fulfill the following eligibility requirements:

Freelancers Union Eligibility Requirements
(Premium Membership)
You qualify for Working Today’s Freelancers Union if you are an independent worker and ONE of the following:

1. A skilled computer user who has worked 120 hours or billed $9,000
over 3 consecutive months within the last 6 month period.

OR

2. Have worked at least 20 hours per week, for the past 8 weeks or earned $10,000 over the last six months, in one of the following industries:
• Nonprofit
• Financial Services
• Technology
• Media & Advertising
• Arts & Entertainment
• Traditional and Alternative Health Care Providers
• Child Care Giver
For more information: Visit www.FreelancersUnion.org; Email
membership@workingtoday.org or Call 718-222-1099 x103
FREELANCERS UNION IS PART OF WORKING TODAY, A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION.

SOCIETY ACTIVITIES
Annual Design Competition: At the end of each year, the Society invites leading design professionals to judge the work of their peers. During three days of judging, top art directors, designers and photo editors view and discuss over 6,000 entries in over 100 separate categories. This rigorous process produces a show composed of less than ten percent of the entries, representing a unique yearly overview of the quality and direction of editorial design.

Awards Gala: A highlight of the Society's year is the annual black-tie awards gala. Held in a variety of New York's most stunning spaces, including the New York Public Library's classic Beaux Arts building, the Vanderbilt Hall at Grand Central Terminal, the Museum of Immigration at Ellis Island, and the Grand Ballroom at the Manhattan Center, the work of the competition's winners is shown and the Magazine of the Year, Gold and Silver medals are awarded. Guests attend an evening dinner and dance, meeting old friends and making new acquaintances within this select group of honorees.

Publication Design Annual: A full-color, beautifully printed hardcover book reproduces the winning pieces in the show, and is an invaluable resource for anyone working in editorial design. The Annual is perhaps the most widely used creative reference tool in the industry, displaying the outstanding work of editorial photographers and illustrators along with art directors and designers.

Herb Lubalin Award: To acknowledge continuing excellence in publication design, the SPD presents an award named for the late, great typographic innovator and designer Herb Lubalin. Recipients of this prestigious award have included:

Art Paul, 2006
George Lois, 2004
Ruth Ansel, 1993
Leo Lionni, 1992
Rochelle Udell, 1991
Milton Glaser, 1990
Henry Wolf, 1988
Frank Zachary, 1987
Will Hopkins, 1986
Bradbury Thompson, 1985
Cipe Pineles, 1984
Lou Silverstein/Jack Golden, 1983

Spots: This juried competition celebrates those small but powerful gems called spot illustrations. The winners are collected in a limited-edition volume, The SPOTS Book, sent exclusively to SPD members and competition winners. Each illustration is shown next to the original editorial page on which it appeared, showing the context of the often-overlooked, often difficult solutions to editorial challenges.

Speaker Series - SPD@FIT: Throughout the year, in conjunction with the Communication Design Department at FIT, the Society highlights different aspects of the design profession for our members and interested guests; recent seasons have covered everything from typography to illustration, film title sequences to sneak peeks behind the scenes at the start-up of O, The Oprah Magazine, and a panel discussion with first-time art directors telling the truth about the way it is to step up into the big job for the first time. The year is broken into two seasons, Fall (September through December) and Spring (February through April), and the calendar is posted on our website.

Grids: Complimentary subscription to GRIDS, the Society's newsletter, is included with your SPD membership. If you need a calendar of future events, or information on shows, activities, resources or products of interest to designers, you'll find it in GRIDS. Our ever-popular musical chairs column chronicles the dizzying world of senior-level job changes. GRIDS also runs articles on common interests and polls the industry on a variety of matter including salaries, technology and trade practices.