November 2010 Archives

The Art Direction of Musician Magazine: Gary Koepke

The Art Direction of Musician Magazine: Gary Koepke

For much of the 1980s and 90s, Musician magazine served as a home for creative art direction and imagery. It was a place where art directors learned their trade while producing cool covers and feature spreads. Art directors during this period included Gary Koepke, David Carson, Patrick Mitchell, John Korpics, and Miriam Campiz.

SPD is going to be hosting a month-long celebration of the art direction of Musician, starting with the work of Gary Koepke. Koepke was an art director at Polaroid before moving to Musician in the mid-80s, where he worked with a staff of two others (a typesetter and an assistant). He describes his design approach at the magazine as "Simple and elegant. The articles were always by great writers, and the photos were all by amazing photographers, so I always respected the word."

After working at Musician from 1984-87, Koepke went on to be the founding creative director of Vibe, designed publications as diverse as Colors, World Tour, and Businessweek, and is the co-founder and executive creative director at creative agency Modernista!

(Above): April 1984. Photograph by Deborah Feingold.
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Fast News for November 30, 2010

Fast News for November 30, 2010

SPD MEDIA MIX is our regular list of publication design, digital, and media news and updates. Please send your links and news items to SPD at mail@spd.org and we'll add them to the Mix.

>> Dirk Barnett is the new creative director for Newsweek/Daily Beast. He took the job after just two days as the new design director at Lucky....

>> Interaction Design is the New Art Direction? A smart post by Adam Schwabe that recaps Khoi Vinh's recent "Digital Killer the Art Director Star" talk. Key quote: "user experience and interaction design are the logical successors to art direction"...

>> Virgin will unveil its custom built magazine iPad app this week in NYC. It's described as a "revolutionary multimedia publication"...

>> Mario Garcia looks at the design of iPad magazine app "landing pages," the very first page that pops up on the screen....
Type Directors Club: An Evening With Veer Type

Type Directors Club: An Evening With Veer Type

The Type Directors Club will be celebrating Veer Type with a show and presentation on Thursday, December 2, from 6-8p, at 347 W. 36th St., Suite 603.

More Than a Pretty Face features a look at Veer's typography and promotional projects, including merchandise, posters, interactive displays, animations, and type specimens. Veer's Head of Type, Joe Newton will give a presentation at the opening of the show that will look at  the type-focused work from the Veer creative team. There will be lots of background on how they create their cool award-winning promotional work, as well as plenty of typographic details for type geeks.

On the next page we've got some Veer Type promotional samples and merchandise.

(Above): Veer promotional sample using the font Eloquent Pro.


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Cover of the Day, November 29, 2010

Cover of the Day, November 29, 2010

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for COTD_Icon2.jpgWelcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.

Phoenix New Times, November 25, 2010
Art Director: Peter Storch
Design and Illustration: Peter Storch
Cover of the Day, November 24, 2010

Cover of the Day, November 24, 2010

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for COTD_Icon2.jpgWelcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.

Houston Press, November 25, 2010
Art Director: Monica Fuentes
Photo Illustration: Jesse Lenz
Fast News for November 23, 2010

Fast News for November 23, 2010

SPD MEDIA MIX is our regular list of publication design, digital, and media news and updates. Please send your links and news items to SPD at mail@spd.org and we'll add them to the Mix.

>> Paul Martinez is the new creative director at Maxim, filling the spot vacated when Dirk Barnett left for Lucky. Martinez was formerly the design director at Men's Journal...

>> News Corp. will launch a daily newspaper app, The Daily, by the end of the year. It's described as having a tabloid mentality with a fun sensibility, "The New York Post Goes to College"...
Cover of the Day, November 22, 2010

Cover of the Day, November 22, 2010

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for COTD_Icon2.jpgWelcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.

SF Weekly, November 17, 2010
Art Director: Andrew Nilsen
Illustration: Andrew Nilsen
The Economist Meets the iPad

The Economist Meets the iPad

Econ_ipad1.jpg
The Economist debuted their iPad app this week--a weekly version of their print pub along with an audio edition so users can "listen to every article, read by professional newscasters, with easy switching between reading and listening."

Print subscribers will receive free access to the Economist's online, iPhone, and iPad editions.

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Intermediair: Weekly Magazine Covers from Holland

Intermediair: Weekly Magazine Covers from Holland

Intermediair is a weekly Dutch magazine, based in Amsterdam, art directed by Jaap Biemans. It has a circulation of 200,000, most of it free, mainly to recent Dutch university graduates. Much of the magazine's focus is on finding jobs (according to Biemans, 95% of the ads are job listings), the economy and the mix of work and life.

Biemans has been the art director since 2004. He is also the art director of the Dutch monthly Hollands Diep, and is the creative force behind Coverjunkie.com, a website with an amazing collection of contemporary and archival magazine covers.

Thanks to Ron Reason, whose blog has a good interview with Biemans along with many great Intermediair covers.

(Above): February 11, 2010. Cover story: "Fuck the passion, choose with your head instead of your heart."
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Real or SurrealPhotos from the SPD Auction

Real or Surreal

Photos from the SPD Auction

Tuesday night's Real or Surreal Photography and Illustration Auction was a glittering and fun gathering at MILK Gallery celebrating the collaborations between the members of SPD and the photographers, illustrators, and artists who together shape the stories of our time. Over 100 artists donated some of their best work, and hundreds turned out for a night of bidding, cocktails, delicious food, and best of all, major appreciation -- followed by the after party at the Soho Grand's new Club Room. A slideshow of some of the shots from the night after the jump...
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Fast News for November 18, 2010

Fast News for November 18, 2010

SPD MEDIA MIX is our regular list of publication design, digital, and media news and updates. Please send your links and news items to SPD at mail@spd.org and we'll add them to the Mix.

>> Folio has announced the finalists for its annual Ozzies (design) and Eddies (editorial) magazine awards. Winners will be announced at the awards lunch on January 13...

>> Drawger, the illustrator group blog, has posted the 2010 Drawger Annual, a collection of sample work from over 60 illustrators. It's very cool...

>> Jill Armus is the new creative director of Every Day with Rachel Ray magazine. She was formerly the creative director at Prevention...


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Details Magazine, 1990-2000, Part 2

Details Magazine, 1990-2000, Part 2

This fall marks the 20th anniversary of the relaunch of Details magazine by Conde Nast. Earlier this month we profiled a set of Details covers from 1990-1998. Now we've got a feast of photography and illustration, from a stellar set of visual creators, including David LaChapelle, Helmut Newton, Dan Winters, Sue Coe, Moshe Brakha, Anton Corbijn and more. Through all its iterations, brilliant photography and illustration has been a Details mainstay. The photos in this collection were all produced by longtime Details photo director Greg Pond.

(Above): April 1996. Photographer: David LaChapelle, design director: Markus Kierzstan, photo director: Greg Pond.
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Cover of the Day, November 17, 2010

Cover of the Day, November 17, 2010

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for COTD_Icon2.jpgWelcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.

The Stranger, November 11, 2010
Art Director: Aaron Huffman
Illustrator: Mort Kunstler
The Stranger Cover Archive
Fast News for November 16, 2010

Fast News for November 16, 2010

SPD MEDIA MIX is our regular list of publication design, digital, and media news and updates. Please send your links and news items to SPD at mail@spd.org and we'll add them to the Mix.

>> When is an app not an app? A simple explanation from Joe Zeff Design about when you should (and shouldn't) create an app. Essential reading...

>> Tina Brown (former Talk, New Yorker, Vanity Fair editor) will be the new editor of Newsweek, after the Daily Beast/Newsweek merger takes effect...

>> The future of writing on tablets: LA Times interview with Oliver Reichenstein of Information Architects. He discusses IA's new iPad app, Writer...

>> Tablet Takeover! The Blistering Rise of iPad and Tablet Computing: an infographic, by Fast Company...
Barry Blitt's Backstory

Barry Blitt's Backstory

Barry Blitt created this striking watercolor for a New Yorker cover assignment. I asked him to give us the backstory:

"This was one idea from a stack of end-of-summer sketches I sent in to the magazine. It's as close to a sort of old time New Yorker cover as I get. It's nice to try my hand at drawing pictures without would-be terriorists or politicians of any stripe.

When I got the go-ahead, I drew a couple of versions of the final. This was the runner-up. I get nervous and keep redrawing everything until the issue gets printed, and sometimes even afterward."

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Cover of the Day, November 15, 2010

Cover of the Day, November 15, 2010

COTD_Icon2.jpgWelcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.

Little White Lies, Issue 32, November/December 2010
Creative Directors: Paul Willoughby & Rob Longworth
Illustration by: Paul Willoughby
Published by: The Church of London

See a complete Flickr collection of Little White Lies covers here. (Thanks to Magculture.com for the link).

U.S. News & World Report, R.I.P.

U.S. News & World Report, R.I.P.

U.S. News & World Report was always an also-ran among the newsweeklies. I shunned it both because of its plodding visual design and its conservative, "traditional" American lifestyle politics. And in recent years the magazine had slowed down to a monthly print schedule that seemed confined to circulation in doctors' offices. So this week's news that the magazine was finally killing its print edition was no great loss (they'll continue with their website as well as printing special issues, like college rankings). However, U.S. News did some wonderful covers in the 50s and 60s that were graphic, engaging, and very stylized. We've got a dozen of the coolest, courtesy of their archives.

(Above): November 18, 1949, March 17, 1950, December 26, 1951.
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Brian Duffy's

Brian Duffy's "David Bowie"

This past year we lost Brian Duffy, one of the photographers who defined the look of the "Swinging Sixties" in London.
 
Duffy, along with David Bailey and Terence Donovan, known collectively as the "Terrible Trio" or the "Black Trinity," shook up the photography scene by shooting fashion and portraiture in a more playful, documentary style. … MORE
Bloomberg Businessweek

Bloomberg Businessweek

When Bloomberg Businessweek launched their redesign (and re-imagination) of the magazine at the end of April, the response from the publication design community was somewhat underwhelming. The first couple covers were solid but not remarkable, the insides were crisply formatted but a bit overstuffed, and the imagery had yet to find its full voice. 

It's time to take another look. In the succeeding months, the new design has grown and matured into a remarkable visual package. Week after week, creative director Richard Turley and his crew are producing stunning covers and features, along with tightly formatted interior pages that rival New York for their texture, density, creativity, and attention to detail. This is state-of-the-art magazine design, with highly-original and intelligent photos, graphics, and illustrations. It's a look that fuses the formatting brilliance of New York and the smart visual approach of The New York Times Magazine, with a hierarchy and architecture lifted from the best British and European publications (the Guardian chief among them). Most impressively, Businessweek has a high level of visual intelligence, challenging its readers, pushing the boundaries of traditional newsweekly and business magazine design.

(Above): November 1, 2010, illustration by Nick White.
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Fast News for November 11, 2010

Fast News for November 11, 2010

SPD MEDIA MIX is our regular list of publication design, digital, and media news and updates. Please send your links and news items to SPD at mail@spd.org and we'll add them to the Mix.

>> Tonight at 7PM: the AI-AP party! Tickets available at the door, all who love great work are welcome, it's a perfect way to celebrate Illustration Week!

>> George Lois socks it to the audience at min's Editorial & Design Awards, telling the audience in his acceptance speech upon being admitted to their Editorial & Design Hall of Fame, "...take the handcuffs off your most talented designer and let him or her...create a magazine cover for your next issue that connects in a nanosecond, that surprises, that thrills, that inspires, that sells." A standing ovation followed...

>> For your coffee-break: WWD sets up the Editor-in-Chief face-off coming to us all in January between Adam Moss at New York Magazine and Hugo Lindgren at The New York Times Magazine...

>> ESPN's executive VP for content John Skipper: "The savior for paper products is not the iPad"...

>> The British Society of Magazine Editors (the UK version of ASME) announced their 2010 Magazine Editors' Awards winners, including magazine, editor, and art directors of the year. Thanks to Magculture for the link...
Duffy: Photo Shoot or Video Shoot?

Duffy: Photo Shoot or Video Shoot?

As previously discussed on SPD.org, the lines between photo shoots and videos shoots are blurring more and more. iheartradio had Duffy down to perform for an intimate audience last week. Instead of shooting with our standard HD video cameras, we took the opportunity to shoot our pre-show interview with the Canon 5D Mark II with a macro lens to give a soft, cinematic feel to the interview.

Duffy_ChrisOwyoung_500wide.jpg
Duffy, photographed on November 3rd for iheartradio by Chris Owyoung
creative director: Josh Klenert, photo editor: Anna Dickson, assistant photo editor: Shelby Case



We set the camera to a very low iso for maximum depth of field, and used Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM Lens with wide open aperture. The main camera was about 2-3 feet from Duffy, who was lit with a large ring light out kino flo lights. 

Watch our highlight package after the jump...
(Make sure you watch the video in full 1080p glory)





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Paula Scher's

Paula Scher's "India"

Paula Scher's been doing these groovy type maps for awhile now, and here's your chance to own a giant signed limited edition silkscreen (the paintings themselves are priceless). Full disclosure here; I'd buy every continent if I could afford them, and in fact, own an enormous Africa print. I'm a total fan of Paula and this series. You'll find the Bollywood-colored India, as well as some other fantastic prints, originals, and objects, at Real or Surreal on the 16th. We've included top illustrators and designers in the auction this time around, so clear a wall and get your bids in early. I'm just sayin'... … MORE
Cover of the Day, November 10, 2010

Cover of the Day, November 10, 2010

Thumbnail image for COTD_Icon2.jpgWelcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.


SF Weekly, November 3, 2010
Art Director: Andrew Nilsen
Illustrator: Scott Bakal

Three Questions With Maili Holiman, DD, Pop Up Magazine

Three Questions With Maili Holiman, DD, Pop Up Magazine

I recently attended installment #4 of POP-UP magazine at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco and was blown away at how cool it was. You are the founding Design Director. How did the idea to do a live magazine come about and did you have any idea how popular it would become? It's sold out every time in something like 20 minutes! Have you guys thought about taking it on the road?

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Herb Ritts'

Herb Ritts' "Eona Holding Zebra Skull" from Africa

In 1993, Herb Ritts traveled to east Africa, to photograph the Masai people, animals and landscape there. Working with him on the "Africa" book that was a product of his travels was a wonderful experience. I think Herb was proud of being able to produce images of people and nature that had nothing to do with Hollywood.... Yet the style and elegance of a Ritts photograph came through.

From a 1999 interview with Herb when his work, including his work from Africa, was being presented by the Foundation Cartier in France, sent to us by the Herb Ritts Foundation:
I loved doing the Africa book. It was a place I had always wanted to venture to. I was so taken that I went back six months later and just took pictures. I loved working with only what was in front of me, as it came along. It's a matter of composing with your eye what's going on in front of you, bringing what you've learned into the moment you're in.
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Fast News for November 9, 2010

Fast News for November 9, 2010

SPD MEDIA MIX is our regular list of publication design, digital, and media news and updates. Please send your links and news items to SPD at mail@spd.org and we'll add them to the Mix.

>> It's Illustration Week in NYC! Be sure you're part of the official festivities: RSVP for the AI-AP party and Rock It Honey on Thursday at Angel Orensanz with all your favorite photographers and illustrators...

>> ...and elsewhere, illustrator Stephen Kroninger has a show of his 1980s experimental collages at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. Many examples and background info here. Also on display at MIAD are 40 illustrations from the Society of Illustrators Illustration 52 annual...

>> Great new covers from Essence, Glamour, Rolling Stone, Mad, The New Yorker, i-D, Paper, and many more, at CoverJunkie.com...

>> U.S. News & World Report announces the end of its print edition (except for occasional special and college ranking issues)...

"How Does It Fit In with the New Technology?"

"It doesn't."
In a world that's all iPad and interaction design and expiration dates, it's always nice to see someone dedicating love and energy to the classics. "Linotype: The Film" looks at the Linotype typecasting machine with just this kind of love. Called the "Eighth Wonder of the World" by Thomas Edison, the Linotype revolutionized printing and society, but very few people today know anything about it. More about the film and the preview after the jump...
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The Infamous Graffiti Magazine

The Infamous Graffiti Magazine

The Infamous is a graffiti magazine based in Philadelphia that published its second issue this week.

Art directed and designed by Shaun Baron, The Infamous showcases content and imagery in a smart and original way, very different from previous efforts at presenting this art and culture. There are pages with tips on color theory, technology, and quality control, and of course, lots of examples of graffiti art. Baron has harnessed the talents of the graffiti scene to create bold illustrative covers and features, but all contained within a tightly-formatted and minimal design architecture. This is a brilliantly-conceived and executed magazine, completely produced and designed by one person on a very limited budget. And of course, here at SPD we love to see low-end challenges turned into high-end publication design results. See more pages from The Infamous on the next page.

(Above) Issue #1 cover illustrated by Pre, vectorized by Waldemar Delgado.


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Cover of the Day, November 8, 2010

Cover of the Day, November 8, 2010

Thumbnail image for COTD_Icon2.jpgWelcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.


GreenSource, November/December 2010
Creative Director: Francesca Messina
Art Director: Ted Keller
Photographer: Doug Siefken


ESPN's NBA Comic Book Preview

ESPN's NBA Comic Book Preview

ESPN's NBA Preview issue not only features a cool comic book cover illustration of Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, and Kevin Durant, but inside they created 30 original comic book cover illustrations, one for each team. The mag approached Marvel Entertainment (coincidentally owned by the Walt Disney Company, who also own ESPN) about creating concepts and "variant covers." Under the direction of the mag's editors and design director Siung Tjia, Marvel's artists created a brilliantly creative spin on the traditional preview issue. If this was the NBA All-Star game, we'd say that the team at ESPN just won the slam dunk and three-point throw contests, and the MVP award!

(Above): Pencils by Joe Quesada, inks by Danny Miki, colors by Richard Isanove.
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Fast News for November 4, 2010

Fast News for November 4, 2010

SPD MEDIA MIX is our regular list of publication design, digital, and media news and updates. Please send your links and news items to SPD at mail@spd.org and we'll add them to the Mix.

>> Dirk Barnett will be the new Design Director for Lucky. He was previously creative director at Maxim..

>> Hugo Lindgren, new editor for The New York Times Magazine, talks about change at the Grey Lady's weekly...

>> Chalkley Calderwood is the new creative director at Latina. She fills the spot recently vacated by Florian Bachleda...
Details magazine, version #2, 1990-2000

Details magazine, version #2, 1990-2000

This fall marks the 20th anniversary of the relaunch of Details by Conde Nast, under the editorship of James Truman, along with creative director Derek Ungless, photo director Greg Pond, and fashion director Bill Mullen. The first issues under Ungless's direction were truly groundbreaking, filled with bright, tabloid-inspired design, provocative photography, and cool fashion. Subsequent design directors included B.W. Honeycutt, Markus Kiersztan, and many others, but the constants were Pond and Mullen, who combined to create some of the most memorable magazine imagery of the 90s. Here are some of our favorite Details covers from 1990-1998. Unless noted, all credits include Greg Pond, photo director, and Bill Mullen, fashion director.

(Above): Creative director: Derek Ungless, photographer: Isabel Snyder

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New Work from Portland Monthly Magazine

New Work from Portland Monthly Magazine

One of our favorite city magazines is Portland Monthly, art directed by Jason Blackheart. It's a smartly-designed magazine, with lots of energy and overall coolness, much of it accented by Blackheart's own typographic illustrations. Here are some examples of recent pages from Portland Monthly.

(Above): Portland Monthly, July 2010. Typography/illustration by Jason Blackheart.
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Cover of the Day, November 3, 2010

Cover of the Day, November 3, 2010

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for COTD_Icon2.jpgWelcome to the newest feature on the SPD blog: The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.


Essence, November 2010
Creative Director: Greg Monfries
Photographer: Yu Tsai
Photo Director: Leslie dela Vega
Stylist: Wouri Vice


Why We Love Albert Watson, Pt. 7

Why We Love Albert Watson, Pt. 7

Because he's just so cool....

Do not miss the tonight's SPD Speakeasy, featuring Albert Watson in conversation with Laurie Kratochvil, talking about his new book, Strip Search, and many more details of his career as an iconic magazine and fashion photographer.

(Above): Christy Turlington, New York, 1990.
Fast News for November 2, 2010

Fast News for November 2, 2010

SPD MEDIA MIX is our regular list of publication design, digital, and media news and updates. Please send your links and news items to SPD at mail@spd.org and we'll add them to the Mix.


>> If you missed it, New York magazine looks into Newsweek's new owner Sidney Harman, and the broken engagement that could have given us Newsbeast

>> Chip Kidd interviews Doonesbury's Garry Trudeau for Rolling Stone...

>> Leslie dela Vega is the new photography director at Fast Company. She was previously photo director at Essence...

>> Pop Goes the iPad Bubble? Mediaweek slams magazine apps, says publishers are "squandering an opportunity"...
Why We Love Albert Watson, Pt. 6

Why We Love Albert Watson, Pt. 6

Because: Johnny Depp.

Do not miss the upcoming SPD Speakeasy on November 2, featuring Laurie Kratochvil in conversation with Albert Watson talking about his new book, Strip Search, and many more details of his career as an iconic magazine and fashion photographer.

(Above): Johnny Depp, photographed for Details, 1993.
Inspired: God and The Web

Inspired: God and The Web

In the latest titillating issue of WIRED (November 2010), Design Director Wyatt Mitchell shares the inspiration behind their "The Web is dead" cover:


[The WIRED cover] was inspired by the April 8, 1966, Time, which famously asked, Is God Dead? "The idea was to take that general architecture and make it WIRED," design director Wyatt Mitchell says.

They go on to share how they got that vibrant neon background: Two hits of ink (90% PMS 811 and 10% PMS 805).
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Cover of the Day, November 1, 2010

Cover of the Day, November 1, 2010

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for COTD_Icon2.jpgWelcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.


Mother Jones, featuring Sarah Palin, November/December 2010
Creative Director: Tim J Luddy
Illustrator: Zina Saunders

See an animated version of the cover illustration and read more about the making of the cover here.


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