The Process

Brodner's Cover Process

2012-11-05T16:16:56Z

A true master at work!

Check out this great clip of legendary satirical illustrator and caricaturist Steve Brodner (who's notable political work as you all know has appeared in countless magazines for over 30 years...not to mention movie posters, books, animated shorts...) hard at work on the cover of this months Texas Observer. Inspiring stuff!

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Check out more of Brodner's videos here!

Video Sketch Pad: Backpacker

2012-09-25T21:44:37Z

Our peek into the process of creating brilliant magazine and newspaper design from around the world, check out Bud Force's behind the scenes video after the jump

Backpacker Magazine, October 2012

Creative Director: Matthew Bates

Photographer: Bud Force

]]> Backpacker Magazine Cover Photoshoot: Behind the Scenes with Bud Force from Bud Force on Vimeo.

Sketch Pad: Time lands on Mars!

2012-08-24T13:00:30Z

Our peek into the process of creating brilliant covers from around the world!

TIME August 20, 2012 • Design Director: DW Pine • Digital Illustration: Joe Zeff Design

Don't forget both Zeff and Time creative director DW Pine will be presenting at SPD's next speak series event "News you can Use". Tickets are FREE for members! more process sketches after the jump

]]> For last week's cover of Time, Joe Zeff and the crew at Joe Zeff design did some out of this world work (sorry!) to help tell the story of the rover "Curiosity" that recently touched down on the martian surface. They were kind enough to give us some insight into their process, check out the sketches and a couple of words from the guys

Explains Zeff: "While Curiosity captures images of Mars, there's nobody on Mars capturing images of Curiosity -- except Curiosity itself. That's where Joe Zeff Design comes in. Ed Gabel started and finished the rendering the same day using NewTek LightWave 3D, the software we've used for more than a decade to create hundreds of magazine covers, advertisements and album artwork. Here's a look at the sketches . . .

here's the wireframe

and the final cover (if you're curious)

Joe's been at this for a while! check out this cover he designed for Time when working as their Deputy Art Director back in 1997

and Ed Gabel (VP of Joe Zeff Design) also produced this maritan classic back in 2004

Sketch Pad: Obras' crafty cover process

2012-08-06T02:51:50Z

Our peek into the process of creating brilliant magazine and newspaper design from around the world.

Obras Magazine, Mexico City

Art Director Roberto Hernández Guerrero

Photo Editor: Brenda Blakely Rodríguez

Designer: Mayra Alvarez Tovar

Origami Expert: Elvia Ruiz

Photographer: Marc Fauche

Process shots after the jump...

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Roberto Hernandez of Mexio City's Obras magazine shows how you don't need a mega-budget to produce a smart and surprising cover. Using craft paper, sharpies and a whole lot of creativity, Hernandez's crew (which includes an origami whizz) came up with this striking image to illustrate their cover story about civil engineering and construction.

Sketch Pad: Newsweek's 82 cover tries!

2012-07-02T13:43:12Z

Our peek into the process of creating brilliant magazine and newspaper design from around the world.

Newsweek, July 2nd 2012

Design Director: Dirk Barnett

Art Director: Lindsay Ballant

What a week! An inside look at what it takes to put a Newsweek cover together. Hint: Flexibilty, creativity and an extraordinary team of collaborators! Creative Director Dirk Barnett explains...

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82 Cover Ideas in 7 Days.

Just another week at Newsweek. 1 week and 4 stories to generate covers from: Europe on Fire, Mitt Romney & Mormonism, OBL's Dr. Betrayed and the Digital 100 Power Index. Along with our own sketches and ideas, we enlisted 6 other agencies/illustrators to churn out some ideas: Dress Code, Timothy Goodman, Ben Wiseman, R. Kikuo Johnson, ILOVEDUST and Carl De Torres. In the end? 82 Cover ideas. Go ahead. Count 'em.

Huge ups to Art Director Lindsay Ballant who carried most the weight!

Below, the final product, on newstands now!

check out more insights on Barnett's blog

Don't forget, want to get your process sketches on spd.org? Email jpegs...and a few words of explanation to mail@spd.org...the messier (...and more revealing!) the better!

Sketch Pad: Inked

2012-06-27T13:50:05Z

Our peek into the process of creating brilliant magazine and newspaper design from around the world.

Inked Magazine

Design Director: Todd Weinberger

Photographs by Magdalena Wosinska, Michael Kraus, Chris Shonting,

Inside the sketchbook (and mind!) of Todd Weinberger's Inked Magazine after the jump

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The final layout above...

And the concept sketches...

More...

For an opportunity to show your sketch book ideas and final layouts, send us some examples now and if we like them...we'll post them here...

email jpegs...and a few words of explanation to mail@spd.org...the messier (...and more revealing!) the better!

Sketch Pad: Fortune

2012-06-26T09:04:00Z

Our peek into the process of creating brilliant magazine and newspaper design from around the world.

Fortune, July 2012

Design Director: Emily Kehe

Portrait Illustrations by Jules Julien

Product Illustrations: Mike Myers

Sketch Pad: Popular Mechanics

2012-06-18T13:30:31Z

Our peek into the process of creating brilliant magazine and newspaper design from around the world.

Popular Mechanics, July 2012

Design Director: Michael Lawton

Senior Art Director: Peter Herbert

Associate Art Directors: Mike Ley, R. Scott Wells

Director of Photography: Allyson Torrisi

]]> Popular Mechanics sure don't come together by accident. Design Director Michael Lawton's process is hugely detail oriented, organized and collaborative. Here he explains how the opener of his July DIY "weekend" section evolved from notes on a page to final

1: Take Note:

This is the starting point for any design at PopMech. These are notes (and others) for our new single page "Reboot" section opener titled "Weekend". This page now opens our back of book core DIY content.

2: Formatting Sketch Ideas

3: Tightening up the sketch

4: The Markup

Building the comp and first markups. After sketching the page a few times I realized that it might be a good idea to not lock into a set position for the "Weekend" title box design. The design can now shift positions each issue to keep the design fresh for the reader and of course accommodate different image formats and content.

5: The Final Page

Final page. This is one of the four designs that a I start with and adjust each month

Sketch Pad: Money's July Cover

2012-06-12T13:14:17Z

Our peek into the process of creating brilliant magazine and newspaper cover design from around the world.

Money, July 2012

Design Director: Neil Jamieson

Director of Photography: Ryan Cadiz

Photographer: Dan Saelinger

Model Building: Mikoto Aoki (Swell NY)

]]> "Getting it down on paper" as described by Money design director Neil Jamieson

The first sketch:

Photo director Ryan Cadiz and I started playing around with the idea of "construction" to illustrate the cover story concept of "building wealth", which took us down the somewhat predictable alley of construction sites/heavy machinery

Evolution:

This idea evolved quickly evolved into tools...

Composition:

...which became a bit more cover/news stand friendly when we started paying with composition (...heavily inspired as ever by Mr Lois!) and what to do about the tablet version?

Technique:

...the tools idea was okay but we felt it wasn't quite "wealthy" enough...seemed a little too "DIY", so we started trying to figure out the engineering behind the object and how to build it...for real...so we started thinking about joints, seams, materials and finishes...we also of course took into account how to finish off the "story" for our tablet edition.

On Set:

Fabricating God Makoto Aoki cast and built this stunning object, which was amazingly lit by Dan...

Tablet:

...we shot a second image of the pieces joined together...or fully "built" for tablet to finish off the "arc"

Sketch Pad: Whole Living

2012-05-30T12:46:12Z

Our peek into the process of creating of brilliant magazine and newspaper cover design from around the world.

Whole Living, May 25,2012

Design Director: Matthew Axe

Photographer: Con Poulos

Food Stylist: Susie Theodorou

Props: Julie Ho (Confetti System)

Part 27: Wrapping Up

2008-09-25T00:22:14Z

OK, now we are entering the truly insane and hard-to-chronicle stage. We've got the layout done and you've seen how we look at color proofs for the photos and design. You've seen the story editor's and researcher's comments on the proof, both of which were forwarded to the copy desk to input. Bob also sent a couple of changes along as well. The copy desk input all of those changes and produced the final proof, which is -- as the name suggests -- our last chance to weigh in with any changes. Story editor John Birdsall, managing editor Jake Young, and Jason all took one last look at this version and made their final adjustments, and then ran those tweaks past one another before collecting and inputting them. Mostly this was done over the phone on Saturday, but this exchange will give you a sense of the overall tone. ]]> On 9/19/08 10:17 PM, "Cohn, Bob" wrote:
Just read the proof. Bravo -- it's very nice. I made a few comments, which I'll leave for Brian on his chair.

Two things of substance. First, I'm open to rewriting the hed. But I still haven't heard what it should be. Of all the ideas, I'd lean most to going back to Charlie Kaufman, the director's cut...and then just living with the large-type echo. But maybe great(er) minds can do better on Saturday.

On the proof, I suggested subbing out "But a decoder ring? Dream On." with "Go ahead -- have a little gray matter with your Raisinets." Scott said he could handle that, but he also then forwarded me this line that Jason sent earlier in the day:

Hollywood's brainiest screenwriter pleases crowds by refusing to be crowd-pleasing. His directorial debut is his trickiest film to date. This time, has he gotten too smart for his own good?

Is there an amalgam, a la:

"Hollywood's brainiest screenwriter pleases crowds by refusing to be crowd-pleasing. His directorial debut comes packed with the usual existential despair, absurdist humor, and intellectual mischief. Go ahead -- have a little gray matter with your Raisinets."

What hed that goes with, pls think about.

And number two: I think the concept of the sidebars is working fine. But I find the first two to be somewhat repetitive, and the third somewhat uninteresting. I realize these don't have to be earth-shattering -- they're process! -- but do we have something (email exchange or something) we could sub in for 1 or 2? I think it picks up more at 4 and 5. This isn't an
essential change, but I'd like us to look at it.

On 9/20/08 7:08 AM, "Tanz, Jason" wrote:
Hey all. Ok, for the hed, I'd suggested "The Kaufman Paradox." that speaks to the non-crowd-pleasing first sentence of the dek. But I can live with charlie kaufman: the director's cut. Happy to defer to the crowd.

I've gone back and looked over the blog. Unfortunately, there really isn't anything to replace #2. The only other option is a fairly boring and pretentious screed I wrote to Nancy before I'd seen the movie. You can see it here if you like -- but I'm sure all will agree that what we have is better.

One thing I do think we need to do: remove the date from the assignment letter. In reality, this actually took place AFTER #2 and #3, once we knew kaufman would participate. I think we can fudge and put it first, for clarity's sake, but we should remove the date.

On Sep 20, 2008, at 2:10 PM, Jacob Young wrote:
I'll work on the display. I know the multiple repetitions of "Kaufman" at the top of the story is deliberate, but it could also be a bit annoying.

Also, we need a caption on the second spread photo...

On 9/20/08 2:23 PM, "John Birdsall" wrote:
Here's the hed/dek Jason and I both like:

The Kaufman Paradox
Hollywood's brainiest screenwriter pleases crowds by refusing to be crowd-pleasing. His directorial debut comes with the usual existential despair, absurdist humor, and intellectual mischief. Go ahead--have a little gray matter with your Raisinets.

On 9/20/08 2:30 PM, "Jacob Young" wrote:
A tiny rhythm adjustment...

He's one of Hollywood's brainiest artists, a screenwriter who pleases crowds by refusing to be crowd-pleasing. His debut as a director comes packed with existential despair, absurdist humor, and intellectual mischief. Go ahead -- have a little gray matter with your Raisinets.

Part 26: The Final Layout

2008-09-24T21:44:20Z

Now that the back-and-forth with the hed and dek had subsided (settling on The Kaufman Paradox), I looked to making my final moves with the layout. Normally, I'd like more time to consider a design more carefully, but we had to make do with the remaining time we had. I took into consideration the pacing of the November feature well and the positioning of this story at the end of the magazine. It was definitely calling for a more impactful typographic hit since the well lacked a forceful piece of design done with type only, let alone big type. True, it's a clichÃ© with designers, the "just make the type huge" move, but in this case, I felt like it was warranted. So I made the headline larger and the dek a bit smaller, looking for awkwardness in the way I ragged the copy.
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Dowload the final layout here.

At this point, the design work is done and it's time to composite the final high-resolution photography. Quad Graphics is our printer; they have a service bureau here in San Francisco where they composite and prepress our pages. For our really high-end color, photos and illustrations that require special composition or color work, we stay in-house where Jeff Lysgaard, our supremely talented production director/colorist, takes charge.

These Kaufman shots were fairly straightforward and not in need of a lot of color-correction to make them print well, so we shipped them off to get what we call "loose color," or small Veris proofs. Jeff and I examined the proofs under D5000 color viewing lamps in a specially built color booth and determined slight color shifts to allow each image to print its best.

After we approve the loose color and once the final copy editing, fact checking, and proofing is done, we get composed Veris proofs back from Quad. These color proofs are our final look at the pages before they go to the printer. Design examines them for any errors, Jeff and our production manager, Ryan Meith, scour the proofs and separations for QC (quality control) and our copy desk gives them a final once-over to make sure the text hasn't reflowed.

Part 25: Factcheck

2008-09-24T02:07:53Z

From researcher Rachel Swaby:

My job is to guard the facts, to double-check every statement and make sure no mistakes slip through. I started working on this after receiving Bob's edit, feeding the writer and editor a stream of updates and corrections throughout the process.

]]> Jason sent me a list of contacts as well as his recorded interviews to work from. I sent an email to everyone mentioned in the story asking them to confirm any facts that Jason got from them. (We don't read back the sentences, just the facts themselves.) General movie stuff went to a pr rep for the film. Questions about Jonze went to his assistant and so on.

This process was especially interesting for me because I would almost never speak to someone like Kaufman directly; my correspondence is usually filtered through a publicist or assistant. But within an hour of sending Kaufman 40+ questions, he called me to discuss - a thrill to say the least.

I kept track of all the fact changes, and sent them to Nancy so she could incorporate them into the text (that memo is below).

I also make sure to go through the proof, to make sure all my corrections have been added, and to make sure nothing else has come up. As you can see by the page above, I went over my copy line by line, crossing out every word as I went back over my notes. After I cleared my suggestions with Jason and Nancy, the story went back to the copy desk. I get one more look at it after this, when the story goes to final proof.

Download the factcheck file here.

Part 24: The Headline

2008-09-24T01:15:50Z

Generally speaking, the task of writing the headline (or "hed") and subhead (or "dek") falls to our display-copy team of executive editor Bob Cohn, managing editor Jake Young, plus story editors Sarah Fallon and Jon Eilenberg. This time, though, a number of us weren't satisfied with "Puzzle Master," the headline that made it into the layout. Nancy and Jason asked Bob and Jake if we could come up with some alternatives. This is the conversation that followed. By the end, everyone was pretty much signed off, although the dek continued to get tweaked on the final proof.
]]> On Sep 19, 2008, at 11:16 AM, Jason Tanz wrote:
OK, we've come up with a few alternatives.

Head Master
Uneasy Writer
And, you knew it was coming:
[Clever Headline Here]

On Sep 19, 2008, at 11:32 AM, Bob Cohn wrote:
Puns puns puns.

Chris hates em

Jason followed up by sending a couple more ideas Nancy's way.

On 9/19/08 1:11 PM, "Jason Tanz" wrote:
Sigh. Well, here are a couple others. Not really crazy about any of em. What do you think:

Kaufman Unbound
Welcome To the Not-So-Funhouse
[or just Not-So-Funhouse]
The Man Who Cannot Be Summed Up In a Headline
Or my favorite, which is certainly not even worth suggesting:
This Headline Doesn't Work

Meanwhile, I was independently lobbying Jake for a new headline.

On 9/19/08 4:32 PM, "Scott Dadich" wrote:
any way you guys would consider a different Kaufman hed?

Puzzle Master just sort of lays there, seems a little deflated...

(not carrying Jason's water here, I was going to ask anyway)

On 9/19/08 4:33 PM, "Jacob Young" wrote:
Not wedded to Puzzle Master, but haven't heard anything better yet.

On Sep 19, 2008, at 5:12 PM, Jason Tanz wrote:
Hm. This may not be perfect, but:

Kaufman's Paradox
He wrote such mind-bending films as Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. But with his directorial debut, has Hollywood's biggest brain gotten too smart for his own good?

On Sep 19, 2008, at 5:16 PM, Scott Dadich wrote:
i like that and can do something cool with that type

On Sep 19, 2008, at 5:53 PM, Jacob Young wrote:
Sounds nice and very Wired-but explain the paradox part to your dense managing editor, please.

Jake had a point; we couldn't put "paradox" in the headline without delivering a paradox in the dek. We set to work trying to come up with something.

On Sep 19, 2008, at 6:24 PM, Scott Dadich wrote:
he does nutty shit-which made him successful-which led to directing this movie-which is nutty-which may be his downfall.

?

On Sep 19, 2008, at 7:06 PM, Tanz, Jason wrote:
Hollywood's brainiest screenwriter pleases crowds by refusing to be crowd-pleasing. His directorial debut is his trickiest film to date. This time, has he gotten too smart for his own good?

Paradox is only in the first sentence. What do you think?

On Sep 19, 2008, at 7:11 PM, Scott Dadich wrote:
i like, but it seems like it needs a transition from that first sentence to the second...feels a touch choppy?

On Sep 19, 2008, at 7:14 PM, Tanz, Jason wrote:
What if we change "trickiest" to "least compromising"? Follows crowdpleasing...

On Sep 19, 2008, at 7:26 PM, Scott Dadich wrote:
mm, yes.

Part 23: The Scrub

2008-09-20T19:36:44Z

So now we've been through a first edit, a top edit, and a copy edit. Chris Anderson has read it through and given Jason and Nancy the thumbs-up (whew!). But we're not done yet. After the layout is finished and approved, the story editor fits it -- cuts or (rarely) stretches to fit the allotted space--and sends it on to the "scrub" editor, whose job is to continue polishing, look for any logic errors or reporting holes, identify structural issues, and so on. Here's the scrub edit for this story, below; scrub editor John Birdsall's comments are in blue ink, and Nancy's and Jason's responses are in red. Download the "scrub" printouts here.

Another note: In the end, we lost the "One of these sentences is a lie" intro when we decided to run part of the first sentence as display copy on the opening spread. It would have been too jarring to have that non-traditional beginning displayed so prominently, and separate from the rest of the piece. Jason always had mixed feelings about it, so he wasn't too sad to see it go.

Also, we toyed with a few headlines--ultimately, a decision for our display-copy gurus: managing editor Jake Young, executive editor Bob Cohn, and our corral of scrub editors. "Unadapted" was deemed too subtle. They tried "Charlie Kaufman: The Director's Cut," but it would be odd to have Kaufman's name twice on the same spread in big display copy, and we didn't want to change the first sentence. So for right now, They're going with "Puzzle Master," but like I said in my last post, I'm going to try and get it changed. I don't like how it looks on the layout. It just sort of lays there.

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