January 2012 Archives

SPD 47: Randy Minors's Favorite Magazine

SPD 47: Randy Minors's Favorite Magazine

Randy Minor, Art DIrector, New York
Favorite Magazine: IL

IL magazine--every issue is a gem and they are highly coveted by the design staff at New York magazine. I don't understand a word of it--but don't really need to--to be entertained/fascinated by it. Special shout-out to their charting abilities. Unparalleled!


This post is part of the Favorite Magazines Project, part of SPD's PUB 47 Competition and Awards. Download the entry forms and be a part of the competition here.



SPD 47: Ben King's Favorite Magazine

SPD 47: Ben King's Favorite Magazine

Ben King, Art Director, Print Magazine
Favorite Magazine: Bloomberg Businessweek

More impressive than 2009's smart editorial overhaul, or the savvy redesign, the consistently amazing illustration and photo selection, the unexpectedly wonderful covers, the quirky theme issues, the hypertextual touts encouraging you through each issue, or the thorough research and clarity of presentation, is that Businessweek have somehow managed to get a massive and diverse audience (even designers!) to read business arcana on a weekly basis.


This post is part of the Favorite Magazines Project, part of SPD's PUB 47 Competition and Awards. Download the entry forms and be a part of the competition here.



Cover of the Day: Monday Edition

Cover of the Day: Monday Edition


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Welcome to SPD's Cover of the Day
, a portfolio of brilliant magazine and newspaper cover design from around the world.

Metropoli
January 2012
Creative Director: Rodrigo Sánchez
Illustration: Raul Arias
Ten Takeaways from Take Me Out to the Ballgame Night

Ten Takeaways from Take Me Out to the Ballgame Night

Joe Zeff, who moderated last week's Take Me Out to the Ballgame night at the Helen Mills Theater featuring Sports Illustrated's Christopher Hercik and ESPN's John Korpics, offers these takeaways:

1. Don't take yourself too seriously. As they say in sports, these guys are future Hall of Famers. Hercik and his team at SI practically invented the multimedia magazine, beginning with its forward-thinking You Tube video showing a tablet-based magazine before anyone even knew what a tablet was. Korpics himself has won more medals than most of the people in the room. Combined. (And that's saying a lot considering some of the people in the audience.) Yet the two remain modest and approachable, taking time from their busy schedules to prepare in-depth presentations and share their experiences on a rainy Thursday night in Manhattan. Their work is impressive, their humility even moreso.
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SPD 47: Erin Mayes' Favorite Magazine

SPD 47: Erin Mayes' Favorite Magazine

Erin Mayes, Partner, Em Dash Design
Favorite Magazine: Garden & Gun

I love Garden & Gun...so much I could eat it.

It's elegant without trying to be something that it's not. The design and photography is all really well crafted. And reading it reminds me why I appreciate all the oddities of the South.


This post is part of the Favorite Magazines Project, part of SPD's PUB 47 Competition and Awards. Download the entry forms and be a part of the competition here.



Cover of the Day: Friday Edition

Cover of the Day: Friday Edition


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Welcome to SPD's Cover of the Day
, a portfolio of brilliant magazine and newspaper cover design from around the world.

Build
Winter 2012
Creative Director: Patrick Mitchell
Design Studio: PlutoMedia 
Art Director: Ashley Bond O'Brion
SPD 47: Ina Saltz's Favorite Magazine

SPD 47: Ina Saltz's Favorite Magazine

Ina Saltz, Ina Saltz Design
Favorite Magazine: Mental Floss

Mental Floss isn't my absolute favorite magazine (that would be Vanity Fair, the only magazine I could not live without if I were stranded on a desert island), but it is a fine, fun read and is really tightly designed, has good typographic hierarchy in its many infographics, and you have to love the tagline: "Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix."


This post is part of the Favorite Magazines Project, part of SPD's PUB 47 Competition and Awards. Download the entry forms and be a part of the competition here.



SPD 47: James Reyman's Favorite Magazine

SPD 47: James Reyman's Favorite Magazine

James Reyman, Reyman Studio
Favorite Magazine: Esquire

Steve Jobs once said that good design is not only about making things look better but making them work better. A well designed magazine, to me, is one that looks beautiful and reads well. It's paced well and I want to read it cover to cover. The typography, photography and illustration are stunning and the words hit home. The articles mean a lot to me. It's not a small thing, not inconsequential. A good magazine can help you make decisions in your daily life, can help you define yourself.

I am not aware and have not seen most magazines in this world so my point of view is very narrow. I'm sure there are brilliant magazines in many countries, in many languages that I cannot read. I like a magazine that is intelligent, serious, has a sense of humor, is informative and has moments of sheer brilliance. There are many magazines I love to read. I love the New Yorker, the articles are magnificent. The design is minimal and secondary but the art is magnificent. I love Guitar Player magazine. It's a wonderful magazine and I've read it for years. It a great magazine for guitar players, and it speaks to the guitar player in me.

The one magazine which I find always interesting, however, always well written and magnificently designed is Esquire. I guess I started reading it when Robert Priest was there. Didn't he have the Mercury typeface created by Jonathan Hoefler back then? The John Korpics issues were brilliant. I asked John at the time how his relationship was with his editor. He said it was the best relationship he had had with an editor. It showed in the issues.

The Curcurito issues are also wonderful. In the magazine, after you read many fascinating, funny articles on many interesting subjects from war to politics to health to business to beautiful, interesting women, you come across the 'What I've learned' page, which really explores the human condition. It's funny and compelling. The magazine is so good I can almost forgive them their fashion spreads where they will, (like in the current issue) photograph a casual winter outfit (coat, sweater, trousers) which goes for a total of $15,360. I guess they occasionally go too far.


This post is part of the Favorite Magazines Project, part of SPD's PUB 47 Competition and Awards. Download the entry forms and be a part of the competition here.



How to (re) Make Money: Part 2, Tablet

How to (re) Make Money: Part 2, Tablet

As a follow up to last week's post all about the print redesign, design director Neil Jamieson gives us more Money with some insight into the development of their tablet versions
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Cover of the Day: Wednesday Edition

Cover of the Day: Wednesday Edition


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Welcome to SPD's Cover of the Day
, a portfolio of brilliant magazine and newspaper cover design from around the world.

SPD 47: Arthur Hochstein's Favorite Magazine

SPD 47: Arthur Hochstein's Favorite Magazine

Arthur Hochstein, Art Director
Favorite Magazine: Bloomberg Businessweek

In today's world, what does "magazine" even mean? Print, tablet, online. I'll stick to print for my choice. It's awfully hard to pick a "favourite"--there are so many excellent ones. But one that stands out is Bloomberg Businessweek--it's one magazine that I always feel compelled to look at to see what they are doing.

BBW may not be technically the best designed or most beautiful magazine, but it has three things going for it:
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O.R.D.: Outdoor Retailer Daily

O.R.D.: Outdoor Retailer Daily

Matthew Bates, creative director of the Outdoor Group (which includes Backpacker magazine, among others), took a team of smart visual folks to the Outdoor Retailer trade convention in Salt Lake City to create a daily magazine/newsletter. Along with senior art director Bryan Nanista and photographer Ben Fullerton, Matthew designed and published four daily issues, complete with photo shoots done in a convention hallway on seamless. The first day's cover is pictured above, and the other three are after the jump.
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The 1912 ATF Specimen ... Now Available Online!

The 1912 ATF Specimen ... Now Available Online!

Jonathan Hoefler tweeted recently that he'd found a site that had digitized the American Type Foundry's 1912 Type Specimen book. It's true. If you don't know this book, next time you're at a bar with a typographer, mention that you've got a copy--your drinks will be free all night.

Familiarity with the ATF book will only serve to increase your typography cred among your designer friends, too. Being able to present examples on your iPhone is even better. It's definitely worthwhile to spend some time looking through its pages.

Get a PDF of the book here.

Sample pages after the jump ...
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SPD 47: Donna Braggins' Favorite Magazine

SPD 47: Donna Braggins' Favorite Magazine

Donna Braggins, Rogers, Toronto
Favorite Magazine: The Walrus

Choosing a favourite magazine has to be as tough as choosing a favourite friend. I'm always impressed by how many good magazines Canada produces in a market that measures about the same as one American state.

Magazines also have such diverse, distinct personalities and I enjoy their design for many for different reasons. But I've chosen a magazine that does what my favourite magazines do well - engage me with images and text that share the job of making ideas come to life. I think the best magazines showcase a strong collaboration between editor, writer, and art director, designer that makes everything work together with a distinctive and entertaining voice.

The Walrus has a very quiet design style that makes text accessible and sets the stage for strong imagery, whether photography or illustration. It's structure is simple and restrained but effective and it allows the voices of the illustrators and photographers to be as powerful as the writers that define the magazine.


This post is part of the Favorite Magazines Project, part of SPD's PUB 47 Competition and Awards. Download the entry forms and be a part of the competition here.



Cover of the Day: Monday Edition

Cover of the Day: Monday Edition

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Welcome to SPD's Cover of the Day
, a portfolio of brilliant magazine and newspaper cover design from around the world.

OUT Magazine
, February 2012
Associate Art Director: Sarah Olin
Photo Director: Annie Chia
Photographer: Matthew Kristall
Stylist: Grant Woolhead
SPD 47: Gretchen Smelter's Favorite Magazine

SPD 47: Gretchen Smelter's Favorite Magazine

Gretchen Smelter, Art Director, Indonesia
Favorite Magazine: Acne Paper

Acne Paper is an artful, intelligent blend of fashion and portrait photography mixed with interviews and narratives about people and culture in the creative world. I find the large format and beautiful matte paper a perfect vessel for the gorgeous, evocative images, typography and words inside.  The printing of the magazine is also practically museum quality--something we don't get to see very much these days in magazines especially in the US!

The typography is somewhat quiet and minimal, with a simple color palette (mostly black and white) with just the right amount of white space that really makes page after page of images and art stand out.

I can't wait to sit down and pour over every page and wish the magazine came out more then 2x a year. I also use the magazine for inspiration not only for the gorgeous imagery, but also for it's effortless balance between timeless and modern layout and design.

This post is part of the Favorite Magazines Project, part of SPD's PUB 47 Competition and Awards. Download the entry forms and be a part of the competition here.


SPD 47: Andrea Dunham's Favorite Magazine

SPD 47: Andrea Dunham's Favorite Magazine

Andrea Dunham. Creative Director, People
Favorite Magazine: Lotus

I likey them fetishistic trade magazines that, when you crack their spines, they smell like petroleum and blast out the retinas with their blindingly white, glossy 92 lb. paper stock. And though I'll likely never set foot in a car that costs as much as condo, LOTUS magazine's opulence-meet-austerity aesthetic allows me to pursue my delusion that I'm merely a paycheck away from the purchase price.  After all, their tag line is "YOUR CAR/ YOUR MAGAZINE".  I have an '08 Subaru Outback--and it's white-- never mind that, it's not stopping me from responding to this accusation emotionally, it's so gratifyingly art directed.

Every spread a centerfold, every page a poster, it's testosterone tempered by taste, I turn these pages wishing I had the balls to abandon my dwindling expense account and offer to intern  in their spare, minimalist offices in--wait. It may be the work of couple a guys freelancing. Who probably work from home.  In their skivvies. Unnerving. I digress. Back to the subject matter; vintage to modern Lotuses, exemplars of engineering and design, hot women, exotic foodstuffs, expensive hobbies like underwater archeology, power celebrity and more hot women. A natural draw for creative expression, it's a sex bomb paired with a minimalist, elegant but still decisively masculine font and it's done so f*ing, achingly well. In the Summer 2011 issue there's a feature called "Street Cars Named Desire" with 42 pages of insane cars designed kind of like giant trading cards. I'd list more faves but head to LOTUS's accompanying website, magazine.lotuscars.com for the splash/page sizzle reel that'll show you more sexy spreads. Though not quite as dynamic as it deserves, the site is smartly organized and typographically pleasurable.

How to (re) Make Money: Part 1, Print

How to (re) Make Money: Part 1, Print

2012 marks the 40th anniversary of Money Magazine and what better way to ring in a birthday year than with a new look and a bold new tablet app. Here in part 1 Design Director Neil Jamieson gives us some insight into how he and his team refined the look of the personal finance magazine in print. (In part 2 he'll tell us all about Money's tablet version, look for it next week!)

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SPD 47: Ola Carlson's Favorite Magazine

SPD 47: Ola Carlson's Favorite Magazine

Ola Carlson, Art Director, Magasinet Filter AB
Favorite Magazine: Hemslöjd

Recently redesigned magazine Hemslöjd (Crafts), made me instantly fascinated of stuff that I'm not normally interested in. An achievement in itself. All of a sudden I had learned some hidden design history, read a long piece about buttons ? and got the rough idea about how to embroider a Vogue cover (!). Uncoated paper on both cover and book, with beautiful, surprising typography accompanied by simple but really good photography.


Ballgame Banter: SI's Christopher Hercik

Ballgame Banter: SI's Christopher Hercik

Christopher Hercik, Creative Director of Sports Illustrated, and John Korpics, VP/Creative Director for Print and Digital Media at ESPN the Magazine, will share the stage January 26 to talk about their demanding jobs atop the world of sports. Both started their careers as magazine designers and evolved into much more, overseeing not only print but apps, websites, television and books. In advance of SPD's "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" event, both share their favorite sports moments:

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SPD 47: Nathalie Kirsheh's Favorite Magazine

SPD 47: Nathalie Kirsheh's Favorite Magazine

Nathalie Kirsheh, Design Director, Details
Favorite Magazine: BON

The simple grid incorporating breaks, the monochromatic typographic palette, the combination of classic typeface textures with minimal flourishing elements injected into the title designs along with the alternating paper stock, all integrate to accent BON's handsome photographic air. 
     It would be great to see the visual department's tasteful handy work receive accolade from the SPD jury someday!

Ballgame Banter: ESPN's John Korpics

Ballgame Banter: ESPN's John Korpics

John Korpics, VP/Creative Director for Print and Digital Media at ESPN the Magazine and a featured speaker at SPD's "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" event later this month at the Helen Mills Theater, shares his favorite sports moments:
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Meet the Pub 47 Digital Judges!

Meet the Pub 47 Digital Judges!

Digital co-chairs Scher Foord and Joe Zeff asked our panel of digital judges to share their thoughts on how social interactions, geo-location and game mechanics would shape app design and development this year.  

Here's what they had to say:

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Cover of the Day, January 12, 2012

Cover of the Day, January 12, 2012


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Welcome to The SPD Cover of the Day
: our favorite covers of the week. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.


Worth, January 2012
Art Director: Dean Sebring
Illustration: Brian Stauffer
Cover of the Day, January 10, 2012

Cover of the Day, January 10, 2012


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Welcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. Our favorite covers of the week. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.


Artvoice (Buffalo, NY), December 22, 2011
Art Directors: Zachary Burns and Amanda Ferreira

SPD 47: Joe Zeff's Favorite Magazine

SPD 47: Joe Zeff's Favorite Magazine

Joe Zeff, President, Joe Zeff Design

I love Post because it is so smart and sophisticated, and experiencing it makes me feel smart and sophisticated. Its navigation is almost invisible, and I feel empowered by understanding where to go without being addressed like a kindergartner to tap here and swipe there. There's an incredible surprise on nearly every screen, some pulled off through complicated tricks like the manipulable 3D cover in Post Gravity and others through simple visual juxtapositions like the Currents section in Post Matter. I really love the way the editors reference other iPad memes, such as their "Elements"-inspired periodic table of accessories in each issue. The content presents itself in waves, with one mind-blowing experience after another. I close the app feeling inspired, and wanting to share it with anyone nearby. Many thanks to Charlie Melcher for sharing it with me.


The Top Alternative Newsweekly Covers of 2011: 10 Runner-Ups

The Top Alternative Newsweekly Covers of 2011: 10 Runner-Ups

Earlier this week we published The Top 10 Alternative Newsweekly Covers of 2011. There were so many good covers that we decided to add this list of 10 runner-ups. Here, in no particular order, is another batch of amazingly creative covers from across the country

(Above): The Village Voice, April 6, 2011. Art director: John Dixon, illustration: Ward Sutton.

 
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TIME: How You Like Mitt Now?

TIME: How You Like Mitt Now?

Fresh off a "win" Tuesday night, TIME magazine revisits Mr. 25% Mitt Romney with a cover that nods to their Dec 12, 2011 cover (right). More on the cover store here at TIME Swampland. (left: Jan 16, 2012)

Cover photograph by Brooks Kraft
The Top 10 Alternative Newsweekly Covers of 2011

The Top 10 Alternative Newsweekly Covers of 2011

2011 was another great year for alternative newsweekly cover design. Papers big and small across the country put out a steady stream of covers that were by turns graphic, provocative, funny, and highly original. With the rise of publication cover sites like Coverjunkie and NASCAPAS (and SPD Grids!) these local and regional covers are now reaching an audience around the globe. Altweekly covers are produced fast and cheap, oftentimes by what are basically one-person shops, and they're filled with passion and creativity and a sense of gonzo design. Here's our list of The Top 10 Alternative Newsweekly Covers of 2011. There were so many good ones that we're going to have a list of 10 runner-ups later this week.

1. The Stranger, January 13, 2011 (Above). Published immediately following the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Art director: Aaron Huffman.

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The Coverjunkie Covers Magazine

The Coverjunkie Covers Magazine

Coverjunkie, the cool website that features daily updates of magazine covers from around the world, has published a pop-up magazine devoted to the best covers of 2011. It's filled with almost 250 covers, plus interviews with noted publication designers like Arem Duplessis of The New York Times Magazine, Richard Turley of Bloomberg Businessweek, Matt Wiley of Port, Rodrigo Sanchez of Metropoli, and legendary Esquire cover art director George Lois (somehow an interview with me slipped in there, too....they must have needed to fill space.) Coverjunkie mastermind (and talented art director in his own right) Jaap Biemans has created one of the most exciting, brilliantly-conceived, and collectible publications of the year, one well-worth getting your hands on ASAP (and it's only $12).


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