June 2011 Archives

Newsweek's 'Diana at 50' Cover Stirs Up Controversy...

Newsweek's 'Diana at 50' Cover Stirs Up Controversy...

...and isn't that what they hired Tina Brown for? The cover for this week's double issue features a photoshopped picture of Princess Diana, aged to imagine what she would have looked like, were she alive, at her upcoming 50th birthday, next to her daughter-in-law, Catherine Middleton. Photoshopping a cover isn't new to Newsweek, and a newsweekly, making news, sounds like a good plan, but this might not be the response they hoped for. The Atlantic Wire asks, "How creepy is Princess Diana's ghost on the cover of Newsweek?" and Fishbowl NY echoes the "creepy" tag, while New York Magazine's The Cut wonders if "reverse retouching" is about to become a thing. CJR thinks there must be a gas leak at the Newsweek office. The Los Angeles Times asks, "Shocking, brilliant or just plain cheap?"

What do YOU think?

Above: Newsweek, July 4 & 11, 2011; Creative Director, Dirk Barnett, Director of Photography, Scott Hall, Photography, R. Mutt Studios (Michael Elins)
Great Minds Think Alike

Great Minds Think Alike

Seen at the newsstand in Penn Station, New York City. It looks like Florida Travel & Lifestyles and Washingtonian have the same stock photo source! Thanks to Erik Spooner for the photo. … MORE
Cover of the Day, June 29, 2011

Cover of the Day, June 29, 2011

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Welcome 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 New Yorker, July 4, 2011
Art Editor: Francoise Mouly
Artist: George Booth

Cover of the Day, June 27, 2011

Cover of the Day, June 27, 2011

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Welcome 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.

Whole Living, July/August 2011
Design Director: Matthew Axe
Art Director: Jamie Prokell
Photographer: Nato Welton
Stylist: Shira Bocar
Handwriting: Lucy Attwater
Magazine Giveaway!

Magazine Giveaway!

This is for those of you who have that extra storage space out in Jersey, or upstate: tomorrow, Saturday, June 25 from 12noon to 2pm, it's a magazine giveaway bonanza. Jeff Glendenning's closed-up shop and heading west, to Portland, OR in fact, and is looking to be sure that all his beloved old issues find a good home. Can you help? Are you looking for copies of
>> (90s) Rolling Stone
>> (90s) Wallpaper
>> The FACE (circa 2000)
>> The NY Times Mag (2001-
>> New York (2003-
+ plenty more? If so, head on over to 208 W 29, #601 (map here) on Saturday from 12noon to 2pm and grab all you can. Free to good homes. And you people are good homes.
Fast News for June 23, 2011

Fast News for June 23, 2011

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.

>> Momofuku Media? Next month, the good people behind McSweeney's will bring us Lucky Peach, an iPad app AND a printed quarterly magazine. The pubs, which debut this week, feature a menu of interactive articles, recipes, interviews and videos. David Chang, founder of Momofuku, is the brains behind it all.

>> Larry Reigns: People magazine managing editor Larry Hackett has been re-elected president of the American Society of Magazine Editors this week at its annual meeting.

>> Abstract Wrap: "When the iPad came along, for designers, suddenly they had a future." That was Bloomberg BusinessWeek's Richard Turley talking about the genesis of last week's Abstract conference in Maine. Read a wrap-up of the event here.

NYT_candle.jpg>> From the Believe It, Or Not Files: Can't get enough of the ink + newsprint smell? The new "Times of New York" candle has "a 'newsy' scent meant to mimic the aroma of black ink on newsprint." You can pick it up at Project 8 the next time you're meeting someone at The Ace (you know you are) or online.
Cover of the Day, June 22, 2011

Cover of the Day, June 22, 2011

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Welcome 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.

PIN-UP, Issue 10, spring/summer 2011
Creative Director: Felix Burrichter
Design Director: Dylan Fracareta
Photographers: Derek Galon and Margret Gajek
Classic Art Department Mastheads: First in a Series

Classic Art Department Mastheads: First in a Series

We're not only fans of old magazines, we're fans of old magazine mastheads. On a recent search through the Google collection of digitized magazines, we came across the July 1994 issue of Spy, which featured a great collection of folks on the art department masthead. This inspired the first of what we hope is an ongoing series of looks back at classic art departments. Thanks to everyone from the Spy crew who contributed memories (see follow page).

Magazine: Spy, July 1994
Robert George: design director
Amid Capeci: art director
Elisabeth Sinsabaugh: photo editor
Edel Rodriguez: production assistant
Jennifer Lipshy: photo intern

Amy B. Conway: copy editor

See a great slideshow of covers and inside pages from Spy here.
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10 Essential iPad Apps for Publication Designers (2nd Edition)

10 Essential iPad Apps for Publication Designers (2nd Edition)

There's no time like the present for our 2nd edition of the essential apps you need for your iPad. This time out, the focus was around reference, inspiration and utility-based apps. Again, nowhere near a definitive list, but an ongoing look at what you need to download now. 

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Cover of the Day, June 20, 2011

Cover of the Day, June 20, 2011

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Welcome 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.

COMPLEX, June/July 2011 issue
Art Director: Brent Rollins
Director of Photography: Greg Garry
Photographer: F. Scott Schafer
Styling: Matthew Henson
Fast News for June 16, 2011

Fast News for June 16, 2011

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.

>> ReadyMade Folds: As part of a spate of cost-cutting measures, Meredith Corporation has shuttered ReadyMade, the trendy DIY magazine which they purchased in 2006 from founders Shoshana Berger and Grace Hawthorne. "These actions will allow us to devote resources to key strategic growth initiatives, including digital platform expansion," said the CEO.

>> SI: Twice as Nice: Sports Illustrated will publish tablet editions twice this week. Due to the rare occurrence of 2 major sports championships in the same week (NBA's Dallas Mavericks surprising victory over the Miami Heat, and the Boston Bruins Stanley Cup win in Vancouver) -- which editor Terry McDonell referred to as "Venus and Jupiter aligning" -- the opportunity to test the limits of staff and resources appeared. He adds: "Being able to react to news [on a tablet] is something we were looking forward to being able to do."
Platon's Power

Platon's Power

In September 2009, photographer Platon began a project to photograph world leaders, documenting the familiar and not-so-familiar faces of world power at the beginning of the era of our Great Recession. As the New Yorker described it, it was "a five-day-long improvisation, with Platon doing his best to lure the likes of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez, and Muammar Qaddafi to his camera..." Platon's new book, Power: Portraits of World Leaders gathers these images, together with an introduction from David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, creating a permanent witness of the leaders of this current, jumbled, chaotic moment in our history. Catch an interview with Platon after the jump...
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Cover of the Day, June 15, 2011

Cover of the Day, June 15, 2011

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Welcome 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.

Visionaire #60, Religion
Case design: Riccardo Tisci/Givenchy in collaboration with Visionaire
Case photo: Junichi Ito
The Guardian's G2 Section Covers

The Guardian's G2 Section Covers

G2 is the daily (Monday-Friday) features section of the Guardian newspaper, based in London. It was the launching pad for Richard Turley, now the creative director at Bloomberg Businessweek. His successor, Joanna Cochrane, has been continuing the marvelous graphic tradition of the section's covers. Most of their covers are done in a day, on a limited budget, and are brilliant visual solutions, smart, funny, engaging, and graphic. Cochrane is an art department of one, and creates a lot of the imagery herself, turning out state-of-the-art cover design, every day. We love it!

Here's Joanna Cochrane's description of her cover design process: "I usually don't get more than a few hours to decide on a solution for the cover. We have an editorial meeting at midday. Prior to that I don't know what the content that day will be. All the covers are turned around in a matter of hours. I discuss concept ideas with my editor, then execute the strongest one. Often there's a complete rethink to react to news at 4pm, and we go to press at 6.30. I use our imaging department or Steve Caplin if I need any retouching or manipulation done, and work to a strict budget, with an occasional illustration commission."

(Above): February 4, 2011. Photo illustration by Sarah Plane / Guardian Imaging.
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Fast News for June 14, 2011

Fast News for June 14, 2011

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.

>> What's Cooking at Conde: Condé Nast is spending upwards of $1 million to create a huge ventilation shaft for the publishers' cafeteria (about one story high and 25 feet wide) that will extend out of the north face of the new 1 WTC tower. Not everyone is happy about it, namely the Port Authority, who originally balked at Condé's special requests -- until Chairman S.I. Newhouse, Jr. threatened to walk away from the building. The concern is that other tenants may also begin requesting additional building modifications. "Hopefully, it won't evolve into multiple acne spots all over the building's façade," said one anonymous source.

>> Enquiring Minds for Sale? The New York Post has reported that National Enquirer/Shape/Star/Men's Fitness/Muscle & Fitness parent American Media Inc. "has been shopping itself in recent months". So far no takers, the paper says, though investor Apollo Management had expressed an interest that apparently cooled because of the "[weak] state of the publishing industry". (Apollo is the parent of CKX Relations, which owns the American Idol/So You Think You Can Dance TV series, among others].)
Cover of the Day, June 13, 2011

Cover of the Day, June 13, 2011

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Welcome 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.

Texas Monthly, June 2011
Creative Director: T. J. Tucker
Photo Editor: Leslie Baldwin
Photographer: Kenny Braun
Fast News for June 9, 2011

Fast News for June 9, 2011

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.

>> Hearst Gets All App-y: Hearst unveiled its fabled App Lab to members of the press today. The plush, windowless, gadget-filled room is designed as a "think tank" for app development and advertising across the company's many brands. Advertisers can expect a lot of meetings in this room.

>> But Will They Also Sell iCigars? At its annual developers conference, Apple introduced Newsstand, a virtual set of shelves that display users' subscriptions with the latest issues of magazine titles. Also new? An app that features only magazine and newspapers titles that offer a subscription model to customers. These features will be available in iOS 5, which arrives this Fall.

>> Plum Beach Read: Plum Hamptons magazine fittingly launched during the Memorial Day weekend. The glossy covers one of the most storied summer vacation spots in America. Tailored to the exclusive community and unique atmosphere in the Hamptons, the new publication features local arts and artists, profiles of the area's famous creative talents, interviews, events, food, philanthropy, design, sports and more.
Cover of the Day, June 10, 2011

Cover of the Day, June 10, 2011

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Welcome 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.

U+Me, June 3, 2011
Creative Directors: Nancy Campbell and Trevett McCandliss
Director of Photography: Laurie Kratochvil
Photograph: Dreamstime
Open Skies, Emirate Airlines In-Flight Magazine

Open Skies, Emirate Airlines In-Flight Magazine

Open Skies is the in-flight magazine for Emirate Airlines, based in Dubai. It launched in its new design format in March, and since then they've created some outstanding covers. Editor Conor Purcell assigns the cover art and design to an outside artist each issue. Here are the first four covers of the Open Skies redesign. Open Skies is produced by Motivate Publishing.

(Above): June 2011, illustration and design by Noma Bar.
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The Story of O Rocks the House!

The Story of O Rocks the House!

O magazine design directors Grace Lee and Robert Priest rocked the packed house at last night's SPD SpeakEasy. It was standing-room only as The Story of O kicked off with a rousing introduction from O magazine editor (and Oprah pal) Gayle King, followed by a video love letter from Oprah herself to Grace and Robert. The audience was then treated to a fast-paced hour of movies, slides, animation and much learning and inspiration. We hope to have both audio and a version of the presentation available here sometime in the near future.
Cover of the Day, June 8, 2011

Cover of the Day, June 8, 2011

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Welcome 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.

Fast Company, June 2011
Creative Director: Florian Bachleda
Photography Director: Leslie dela Vega
Photograph: Matthias Clamer
Prop and Costume Styling: Eric Hollis
ABSTRACT Loves SPD: $100 Off!!

ABSTRACT Loves SPD: $100 Off!!

Since Summer has unofficially started on the East Coast (and is going to prove it in the next few days) why not take advantage of this sweet offer from the team putting together the ABSTRACT Conference this Friday to get out of the city and up to Portland, Maine for a day of inspiring creative adrenaline, now $100 off for SPD members? All details and the how-to after the jump...
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Cover of the Day, June 6, 2011

Cover of the Day, June 6, 2011

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Welcome 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.

Snap, May/June 2011
Creative Director: Francesca Messina
Art Direction: Mitch Shostak and Corey Kuepfer, Shostak Studios
Photograph: Courtesy 3form
Fast News for June 2, 2011

Fast News for June 2, 2011

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.

>> Tag Sale at Martha's: Martha Stewart Living (which includes the namesake magazine and TV show, as well as Everyday Food, and licensing agreements) is officially for sale. Shares of Martha Stewart Living shot up on news the company is in play, but the company still has a market value of just a shade under $280 million. At its peak, the company was worth $1.9 billion in February 2005, just before the lifestyle guru emerged from a West Virginia prison.

>> Shelter Category @ Home: The shelter magazine category, which has gone through a major pruning over the past 10 years, has found new life in the digital world. No less than 4 interior design magazines now exist online, lead by Lonny, created by staffers from the shuttered Domino magazine.

>> A Playboy Goes Mental: James Kaminsky, an industry veteran who's held top editorial slots at Playboy, Rolling Stone, Men's Journal and Maxim has been named editor-in-chief of the newest Dennis acquisition, Mental Floss, a bi-monthly compendium of factoids, listicles and esoterica.

>> Swinging the Axe at Hachette: Just a day after completing their deal to buy Hachette Filipacchi Media, Hearst has begun handing out pink slips. The expected body count should reach over 100 by year's end.
The Covers of the SF Weekly

The Covers of the SF Weekly

Andrew Nilsen has been the art director of alternative newsweekly SF Weekly since January 2010. One of his SF Weekly covers won a gold medal at this year's SPD Gala for Best Illustrated Cover, with an illustration by Brian Stauffer. A lot of his covers are self-illustrated (he says about 40%), and like art directors at other altweeklies, he operates with little time, staff, or budget. Yet he's managed to produce an impressive body of work, corralling illustrators like Stauffer, Scott Bakal, and Luba Lukova to produce memorable imagery and powerful covers.

Here are 10 of our favorite SF Weekly covers.

See a full collection of Nilsen's SF Weekly covers here.

(Above): SPD Gold Medal Winner for Best Illustrated Cover: June 9, 2010. Illustration by Brian Stauffer.
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The Story of O: Sold Out! Sign Up for the Waitlist

The Story of O: Sold Out! Sign Up for the Waitlist

Yes, The Story of O SPD SpeakEasy on June 7 is now officially sold out. But if our past experience is any indicator, a certain percentage of ticketholders will not show up to claim their seats. So, if you really want to see The Story of O, but didn't get your ticket in time, we strongly suggest you sign up for the waitlist. You really should, because things happen, deadlines loom, plans change. And SPD is offering a special feature for our waitlist friends: As the presentation begins on Tuesday night (but before the speakers actually begin), we'll seat as many people as we can from the waitlist in place of unclaimed tickets. And best of all, the charge will be just 50% of the standard ticket price, because, let's face it, the odds aren't 100% in your favor. But some ticketholders are not going to attend, and you, the smart wait-lister, can swoop in and grab the goodies (aka, the empty seat).

You must be signed up on the SpeakEasy waitlist to be able to grab a seat at The Story of O. All non-wait-listers will be banished from the hall. (There's a few good places to nurse those wounds close by...)

Sign up for The Story of O waitlist here.
Cover of the Day, June 1, 2011

Cover of the Day, June 1, 2011

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Welcome 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 Infamous, Issue #4
Art Director: Shaun Baron
Illustration: SP.One

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