September 2009 Archives

Mirrored Covers

Mirrored Covers

This week's BusinessWeek cover is a classic design by art director Andrew Horton and illustrator Christoph Niemann, using the right-side-up/upside down approach. That got us thinking about other magazines that have designed covers in this format. Here are four more classics of the genre, covers from Fortune, Time, and Mad. … MORE
Cool Hunting

Cool Hunting

When I was 9 years old, my uncle gave me a stamp collector's starter kit. I remember this moment clearly because it was the first time I was introduced to graphic design, and although I didn't know it at the time, this hobby kick-started my obsession with typography and image making. Collecting these "little posters" became a visceral thrill, and a precursor to what would become my love for page design. … MORE
Time to Refuel?

Time to Refuel?

The Speaker Series kicks off the Fall Season with Richard Wilde, who asks,
...in the course of our careers we lose sight of our essential nature and our work becomes more mechanically driven and we also lose sight of our original goal of being an artist. The question is, how do I make my work more vital, which will give meaning to my life?

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Runner's World

Runner's World

We're closing out the New Work week of Vertical Titles Appreciation with a look at the November issue Runner's World just shipped...

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Think You Know Fonts? How About Cheese?

Think You Know Fonts? How About Cheese?

Telling the difference between the two is tougher than you might think, even for a font nerdy crowd such as ours!

Make sure you have five free minutes before checking out this site and testing your knowledge: Cheese or Font

Photo:Chris Rochelle; Chow.com
Best PC Upgrades? OSX

Best PC Upgrades? OSX

Proving that you can design the best cover possible, but you just can't guarantee where it will show up on the newsstand.



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Field & Stream: The Rut

Field & Stream: The Rut

Fashion bibles have their September issues... Field & Stream has The Rut. Art Director Neil Jamieson makes sure we'll never be ignorant about the importance of the November issue again...
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Best Covers: Judge for Yourself!

Best Covers: Judge for Yourself!

ASME's annual Best Covers competition has come around again, and this time we're all invited to assert our opinions--and if ever there's a group more suited to weigh-in here, it's SPD...
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Backpacker: Rip & Go!

Backpacker: Rip & Go!

Matthew Bates, DD at Backpacker, sends along a look at some new pages:
Here at Backpacker, we are constantly trying to come up with new ways to create unique pages that help go beyond the beautiful scenic photo. We are blessed with a subject matter that lends itself to stunning images of beautiful locations, but as a vertical title, we are always looking to create pages that change up the pace a bit or add some extra texture to the outdoors. We redesigned the magazine this past spring with this in mind.
Read on for a fantastic in-depth look at the mag's Rip & Go pages and more, and be prepared to want to take off, immediately, yourself...
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Spring Has ....Sprung?

Spring Has ....Sprung?

...in Argentina that is!

Same time zone, different channel...I mean season...yours truly is headed to the southern hemisphere for the 31st annual SND Workshop and Exhibition next week in Buenos Aires....


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Designing Obama

Designing Obama

An interesting note about sustainable printing from the new "Designing Obama" project:

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Mini Modernist Book List

Mini Modernist Book List

Fellow design book fetishists: One assumes you fancy yourself a taste maker in all that you do, so your home reflects your sensibilities as an arbiter of all that is clever, creative and hip. But add a baby and sh*t hits the proverbial Cirrus Ceiling Fan. You don't panic, not you. You simply develop a costly, all-consuming quest for children's books that will serve as window dressing for the munchkin's bookshelf to artfully disguise the stacks of (equally brilliant but lesser designed) reading material that, well, your kid will more likely read, but you find a little ahh... pedestrian. Shudder. Never fear. The following books (shop them all here) make great gifts for your breeder friends or keepers for your own little tyke's library that make the immediate statement that you are A) an brutal aesthete who doesn't abide Junie B Jones and B) unapologetic about it. Feel free to add to this list; the goal is to fill that Eames bookcase to the brim and that alone-- takes a village.  … MORE
Guest Creative Directors: They're Everywhere!

Guest Creative Directors: They're Everywhere!

The Guardian reports that Karl Lagerfeld and Philippe Starck have each designed covers for the latest issue Wallpaper* -- and will be guest editing the October issue.
Lagerfeld has designed a "peelable" cover for the monthly title, which features model Baptiste Giabiconi, dressed in Dior Homme. Lagerfeld has shot several ad campaigns for Dior. Readers can peel back this image to reveal another cover, which shows the model naked.

Starck, best known for designing high-end hotels, including the St Martin's Lane hotel in London and the Delano in Miami, has constructed a transparent front cover using three layers of tracing paper. Vodka brand Absolut has produced a specially made advertisement for the issue, which promotes its "Rock edition" bottle.

Wallpaper* claims the paper technologies used by the design duo have never before been used on magazine covers.
Lagerfeld is also one of three guest editors (along with Bruce Weber and Peter Lindbergh) for German Vogue's 30th anniversary edition next month, per WWD. If you could guest creative-direct or edit any title, what would it be?

Wallpaper* images courtesy of IPC Media via The Guardian.
 
Futura and Verdana Battle It Out at IKEA

Futura and Verdana Battle It Out at IKEA

idsgn reports that IKEA has ditched their longtime custom Futura-based typeface for one of the web-standards, Verdana. Not surprisingly, strong opinions are being expressed, memorials for older IKEA catalogues are being posted, and petitions have been started. What do you think? A nice refresh, or so bad they might as well have chosen Comic Sans?

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