Psychology Today: Serendipity

Creative Director Ed Levine shares some of the behind-the-scenes work that went into putting together Psychology Today's newest issue on luck, serendipity, lust, obsession... you know. All those everyday things it's so easy to talk about.

The focus at Psychology Today is on human behavior and helping readers to live healthier, happier lives. Many of the feature stories can be very  abstract dealing with topics that do not exist in the physical, observable world but our inner lives.

The challenge is always to develop fresh and accessible cover solutions. For the June 2010 cover story on 'Serendipity' we fabricated a four-leaf clover out of random and aspirational objects to illustrate the message 'luck' is all around you, not just a matter of fate. We only need to recognize it and take advantage of the opportunities to create it. Once the cover concept was approved by EIC Kaja Perina, photographer Stephen Lewis, stylist Megan Caponetto and I set down to the task of collaborating to produce it along with the photo series illustrating the feature. (cover above, spreads from the story below)

The feature below, "Learning to Lust," photographed by Fredrik Brodén, was on the perennial mystery of female desire. I wanted to play with the symbolism of temperature commonly associated with sex...

Who doctors the doctors? For this feature on the state of physician personal health issues and how it impacts care for their patients we used dolls because they are a terrific metaphor to illustrate the unrealistic perceptions and expectations doctors have of themselves and society has towards them. Photography by James Worrell and styling by Jen Everett.

The Psychology Today art department has recently begun conceptualizing, styling, and shooting images for sections in-house. PT's Art Director Katherine Bigelow assigns and directs the sections and is a talented artist as well, often illustrating some of the articles.

The Psychology Today creative team includes:

Creative Director: Edward Levine
Photography Director: Claudia Stefezius
Art Director: Katherine Bigelow


Hey! You've probably got some NEW WORK to share, and we want to see it! We'll welcome anything that's gone to the printer recently, something you're especially proud of and think might be inspiring to the membership and readers of Grids. We'll note the credits and the publication and shine a little light on the latest and greatest in publication design.

Please reduce your layouts to no larger than 1200 pixels wide and don't forget to include all relevant credits and a little background (if you feel like). Send your submissions to tips@spd.org and we'll post them as we get them.



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