Grids: January 2010 Archives

Creatives Under Siege!

Controversy 01.29.10 posted by Jeremy LaCroix

The LA TIMES published this article last week painting a bleak outlook for Creatives in general.

Take a look at the artwork they utilize, an April 2009 cover of TIME magazine in which they report the main image of a mason jar containing change only cost TIME $30 dollars to license illustrating how high end photographers are getting crowdsourced...… MORE

Australia's Monument Re-Imagined

New Work 01.27.10 posted by The Editors

The very first New Work entry for 2010 comes from Dan Peterson, Art Director for Australian architecture magazine Monument:

In 2010, Australian Architecture magazine Monument undertook a comprehensive re-imagining. This involved reconstructing the entire creative direction of the title. We aimed to establish ourselves as the most progressive title in our market, to engage an expanded audience, and provide and inimitable product for the newsstand and subscriber base.

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Apple iPad: It's Real

News 01.26.10 posted by Josh Klenert

There was more as much mystery around Wednesday's announcement as there is in the final season of "Lost." Many questions were answered on Wednesday (except for "how will it sell"?) Stay tuned for many links to new about the announcement coming out of the event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. We'll have lots of news and links then.

Here are a few links to what we've read so far:

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PAUL SAHRE: Alien abduction attempts, the hairless hand, dead pig heads, boring sex and eating the dinosaur.

SpeakEasy 01.26.10 posted by Brandon Kavulla

The one and only Paul Sahre will be kicking of SPD's spring speaker series on Tuesday, February 9th at the Helen Mills Theater.
According to Paul's site, he...
...is a graphic designer that works out of his own shitty office in New York City.
...received his BFA and MFA from Kent State and teaches at the School of Visual Arts.
...finds comfort in the fact that we are all hurtling through space.
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The New York Rocker

Old School 01.25.10 posted by Robert Newman

The New York Rocker was the definitive music and culture publication in NYC in the early 1980s. With art direction by Elizabeth van Itallie and photos and photo editing by Laura Levine, it was also very cool-looking. There's no central online archive for Rocker covers, although editor/publisher Andy Schwartz has started a blog of music writing here. But thanks to Elizabeth van Itallie, we've got some Rocker covers on the SPD site, and you can see even more here.

(Above): June 1980, The Pretenders, photograph by Ebet Roberts, design by Chris Nelson.

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5 Questions for The Wonderfactory on the Apple Tablet

Behind-the-Scenes 01.21.10 posted by Paul Schrynemakers

Next week it is almost certain that Apple will announce the iTablet (or iPad, product name TK). This Kindle size device could be a game-changer for the magazine industry by enabling and launching new and innovative paid digital content products. Sports Illustrated has worked with The Wonderfactory (TWF) to prototype their magazine's look and feel for the new platform. Late last year, TWF posted a video of the prototype on YouTube that has been viewed over 580,000 times. I sat down with David Link, co-founder of TWF, and had five questions for him about the experience and his thoughts for what's coming next.… MORE

The creative power of Miami New Times

Alternative Weeklies 01.18.10 posted by Robert Newman

The knockout cover pictured above is the work of Pam Shavalier, the very talented art director of alternative weekly Miami New Times. In two years at the paper, Shavalier has crafted a brilliant, creative, highly-original set of covers, creating a look that is as much the voice of Miami New Times as its editorial pages. In her spare time, she designs the covers and serves as art director for the paper's sister publication, New Times Broward-Palm Beach. … MORE

Photographers Organize Fundraising Mag for Haiti Quake Aid

Charity 01.17.10 posted by Robert Newman

A group of photographers have created a fundraising magazine through Magcloud to help generate aid for Haiti earthquake victims. Organized by San Francisco photojournalist Lane Hartwell, the magazine, titled One Respe, is a collection of photos and photo essays filled with images of pre-earthquake Haiti.

Photographers Peter Pereira, Chet Gordon, and Mary Ellen Mark all contributed and donated work. The mag sells for $16; $12 of each sale goes to the Red Cross. This is a strong mag in terms of photography and design, and a creative use of a relatively new technology to print and publish it.

You can order One Respe here.

Society of News Design launches newly redesigned website

Newspapers 01.14.10 posted by Robert Newman

The Society for News Design has relaunched and redesigned their website, SND is the newspaper association of "visual journalists," art directors, graphics people, etc. Their site is rich and energetic, and currently features a lengthy entry (with video!) by Roger Black on the future of news design, a post by Boston Globe design director Dan Zedek on year-end graphic coverage, and five questions with journalist and web developer Adrian Holovaty. Take a look and show them some love.

Rare Specimen No. 1
Kenji Aoki

45 01.13.10 posted by Deb Bishop

rare
â€¢ adjective (rarer, rarest) 1 occurring very infrequently. 2 remarkable: a player of rare skill.
-- ORIGIN Latin rarus.

specimen
â€¢ noun 1 an individual animal, plant, object, etc. used as an example of its species or type for scientific study or display

For the first in our inspiring series of "Rare Specimen" entries we exhibit an artist named Kenji Aoki. I almost hate to uncover this remarkable species as he is truly "rare," but I think it's important to share great talent with the rest of the world.… MORE

Tips & Tricks: 10 New Timesavers in Photoshop CS4

Adobe 01.12.10 posted by The Editors

Funny how, back from the holidays, things are going faster than ever, right? Here are some fast and easy tips to save you time (and some, just workspace/mental clarity) in Photoshop CS4. If you've ever experienced the feeling of, "There are too many cascading images on my desktop! I can't even think," then this quick video hit is for you. There's a solution just one minute in to the video after the jump.
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Smart alternative weekly covers from Westword

Alternative Weeklies 01.12.10 posted by Robert Newman

Denver-based Westword is another alternative weekly newspaper producing brilliant and original cover design.

Jay Vollmar has been the art director of Westword for 10 years. Check out his website here. Vollmar comes from a rock poster background (his website has examples of his highly-cool poster work). He describes his cover design process: "I usually apply the same principles to Westword covers as I do to poster projects. It starts with trying to boil a story down to its basics and then illustrate that in a simple image that can grab you from across the street. I just try to basically capture the vibe of a story much like I do with a band, the specific lyrics, words or details aren't as important or workable as the overall theme."

Like his fellow art directors at alt weeklies Riverfront Times and the Dallas Observer (see previous SPD posts), Vollmar is self-creating the best of his covers, with a mix of stock imagery, highly-art directed photography, and his own illustration. His covers are a weekly series of gig posters as publication design, drive-by graphics for quick and immediate attraction and consumption. They're smart, original, high-energy, and incredibly engaging; this is publication cover design at its best.

We've got 10 of the best recent covers from Westword and Jay Vollmar, on the following page.

(Cover above): October 20, 2009. Photograph by Anthony Camera, photo illustration by Jay Vollmar. The cover story is about a controversial Denver bill that targets unlicensed drivers and sells their cars at auction.

You can see a collection of 20 of Jay Vollmar's greatest Westword covers here.

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The Hunt for Indian Movie Posters

Found Objects 01.08.10 posted by Kayleigh Ryley

"HA HA HA, I got them now!" I shouted into a cardboard tube smelling of India and printer chemicals that contained possibly one of the coolest ideas I've come up with! My very own Indian movie poster -- advertising myself and my good friend-slash-freelance partner Dawn Szombathy.
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Happy Birthday Elvis!

In Memoriam 01.08.10 posted by Robert Newman

Friday, January 8th is the 75th birthday of The King, Elvis Presley. Elvis appeared on countless magazine covers while alive, and probably even more after he died in 1977. Interestingly enough, we've been unable to turn up a cover of Time or Life that Elvis appeared on while still living, although he did make it on the cover of People a few years before his death.

The cover above is the January 1986 issue of Jamming!, from the UK. The cover illustration is an excerpt by Gary Panter, from the cover of his Invasion of the Elvis Zombies book. We've got a few more Elvis cover goodies for you on the next page.

Visit this site to see a collection of 20 of the greatest Elvis covers, from 1958-2008.

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Tablet Wrap-Up from CES

Technology 01.06.10 posted by Josh Klenert

With CES 2010 kicking off on Thursday (1/7/10) there are high expectations and will be lots of news about Tablets and e-Readers all with the mission to "save magazines and newspapers."

After the jump: Developments in days leading up to CES and news from the tech trade show:

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Tips & Tricks: From Comp to Working Web Page with Fireworks

Adobe 01.05.10 posted by The Editors

We're starting the new year with a little trip in the time machine, but admittedly, we're not all as up-to-speed as we'd like (need) to be when it comes to toggling evenly between print and web design. New year means new skills, though, and we're about to fix all of that.

Here we go with the reality: your web editor doesn't want to see your Photoshop comp of the new site feature or app you've developed to go with your print work--today we're going from your comp of starter layouts to a working Fireworks page your web team can run with...
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The smart cover design of Riverfront Times

Alternative Weeklies 01.05.10 posted by Robert Newman

Riverfront Times is an alternative weekly newspaper based in St. Louis, owned by the Viilage Voice Media chain of newspapers. Tom Carlson has been the senior art director at the paper since 1988. He does a lot of smart, cool work.

Carlson is one of a number of alt weekly art directors who are doing amazing, creative work with their designs, crafting cover after cover from scratch, on super-low budgets, with limited deadlines, using primarily stock imagery and self-created artwork. Last month SPD posted an article about the cover designs of Alexander Flores at the Dallas Observer. We'll have more design from other weekly papers later in January.

As free papers, these weeklies are removed from the restrictions of newsstand sales and subscription renewals. WIth improved printing and reproduction capabilities (although their art directors would probably disagree about the quality), these papers have been able to get much more sophisticated in their cover designs, now oftentimes rivaling and surpassing other, slicker publications in their regions. There is some brilliant publication design going on under the radar at many of these weekly papers; it's a highly-fertile ground for creativity and originality.

Carlson's best covers at Riverfront Times are complete self-creations, made with stock imagery and Carlson's own technical skills. What photography he uses on the cover is generally by former staff photographer Jennifer Silverberg, and is made-to-order to Carlson's creative direction. "My cover philosophy is object-oriented. I like to go for visual solutions with clarity and directness that render text all but unnecessary. I tend to avoid decorative type choices and use type that just is, and let the words (when we have them) do their job."

You can find more examples of Tom Carlson's wonderful work at Riverfront Times here.

(Above): St Louie Chop Suey cover, November 16, 2006. Photograph by Jennifer Silverberg; type, design, and digital manipulation by Tom Carlson.

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January 2010 Archives

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