September 2010 Archives

UCLA's Tribute to Coach Wooden

UCLA's Tribute to Coach Wooden

In June, UCLA lost a legendary figure in Coach John Wooden, and the university magazine, led by Creative Director Charlie Hess, dedicated the October issue to honoring his legacy.
He's considered one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all time. But more importantly, he retired at 65 and then lived a productive life for another 35 years -- teaching his philosophy, The Pyramid of Success , and generally mentoring another couple generations. He passed away just before his 100th birthday. I tried to capture his humility and quiet spirituality with this cover.
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Drew Friedman's Killer New Book,

Drew Friedman's Killer New Book, "Too Soon"

Over the past 15 years, Drew Friedman has been one of the most popular and prolific illustrators in the magazine world. His caricatures and cartoons have graced the pages and covers of everything from The New Yorker to Entertainment Weekly to the Weekly Standard. And although these days most of his work is in color, he still publishes work in classic black and white as well.

Now Friedman has a brilliant new collection of his magazine work, Too Soon?: Famous/Infamous Faces 1995-2010, published by Fantagraphics Books. It's hardcover, 200+ pages, packed with hundreds of  comics and caricatures and even more laughs. And it's graced with a wonderful introductory essay by Friedman that is a great history of both his illustration career and magazine illustration in general over the past 15 years.

Check out some of our favorite Friedman illos from the book on the next page, and see even more on his Drawger page.
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Fast News for September 30, 2010

Fast News for September 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.


>> Art director Bryan Erickson is leaving Foreign Policy for a gig at The Wall Street Journal, working on new print projects for the newspaper. His replacement will be Dennis Brack, who is currently design director at The Washington Post...

>> 40th anniversary of The New York Times op-ed page. They've put together a great historical video, with interviews with illustrators and art directors...

>> Type designer Matthew Carter was the recipient of a $500,000 MacArthur "genius" award, announced on September 28...
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Joe Zeff: A Paper to Pixels Postscript

Joe Zeff: A Paper to Pixels Postscript

Illustrator/art director/smart guy Joe Zeff was one of the panelists on the recent SPD Paper to Pixels v2 iPad speaker evening. He passed along the following note he wrote in response to an email from a photo editor who attended the panel discussion:

Joe Zeff: I received an e-mail today from a photo editor who attended "Paper to Pixels v2," a panel discussion on tablet apps presented last week by the Society of Publication Designers. l was among five designers who addressed a packed house on the promise and perils of publishing to the iPad and other tablets. The photo editor sought advice: how to realign his career to best position himself for the opportunities ahead. My response, as it may benefit others who are considering similar questions:

***

Thanks for your note, and your kind words about my presentation. You are wise to begin researching ways to break into the new world of multimedia tablets, as they represent the future of our industry. It's still extremely early in the development cycle, and it will likely be another year or two before tablets become commonplace. By then the players will be firmly entrenched, and the winners and losers will be apparent to all.


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1000 Time Covers: Thinking Inside the (Red) Box

1000 Time Covers: Thinking Inside the (Red) Box

On Wednesday, October 27, Time art director Arthur Hochstein will be talking at an SPD Speakeasy about his greatest hits, favorite never-seens, and all the in-betweens that went into making over 1000 covers of the magazine. Longtime collaborator, artist Matt Mahurin, will introduce the night, and you'll walk away with a better sense of the secrets behind making a mass-market cover jump out from a crowded newsstand, and the power of the page. Don't miss out on this memorable evening; tickets are going fast! RSVP and buy your tickets here.


New cover of The Stranger

New cover of The Stranger "inspired" by Time

The latest cover of Seattle alternative weekly newspaper The Stranger is a straight knock-off of the recent Time magazine cover of novelist Jonathan Franzen. The Stranger profiles novelist Tao Lin. This is the kind of homage/inspiration we like!

The Stranger cover: art director, Aaron Huffman. Time cover: art director, D.W. Pine


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Fast News for September 28, 2010

Fast News for September 28, 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.

>> Former Newsweek Director of Photography SImon Barnett is now Director of Photography for Life.com...

>> Pentagram's Luke Hayman led the redesign of Better Homes and Gardens, which debuts this week. He worked with the magazine's art director, Michael Belknap. We'll have a more detailed post soon, but in the meantime, you can see the pages here.....

>> Criswell Lappin is leaving Metropolis magazine after 10 years as creative director. He'll be leading a design team at Fahrenheit 212. The new AD at Metropolis will be Dungjai Pungauthaikan...


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Jason Schwartzman Shows Us How to Use the New Yorker iPad App

Jason Schwartzman Shows Us How to Use the New Yorker iPad App

Celebrities introducing your iPad app are the new black... Jason Schwartzman walks you through the new app from The New Yorker here:


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Preview the SPOTS Medal Finalists

Preview the SPOTS Medal Finalists

Tuesday night we're celebrating the winners of the 2009 SPD SPOTS competition with a fab party -- if you still need to rsvp, you should do that here -- and announcing the winners of the SPOTS Gold and Silver Medal awards. Take a look at the finalists after the jump...
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Jay Colton: A Remembrance

Jay Colton: A Remembrance

Longtime Time magazine photo editor Jay Colton passed away suddenly last weekend at the age of 57. Jay had a remarkable history as a magazine maker, and was very well-known and respected in the industry. We asked his friend and former co-worker Arthur Hochstein to write a remembrance.

Photograph of Jay Colton by William Coupon.
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It's only rock and roll...

It's only rock and roll...

Whether New York Magazine's Facebook cover was inspired by The Rolling Stones album art from "Black and Blue" or not, the parallels are there.

Like Facebook's call to connectivity, the Rolling Stones' 1975 recording sessions was a social networking scene of guitarists trying to fill the void after Mick Taylor had mysteriously de-friended the band. Billy Preston, Harvey Mandel, Wayne Perkins, and it's said maybe even Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton played on this eclectic record, a mash-up of styles with a groovy groove but no defined direction.

It's only Facebook but I like it.

[New York Magazine photographed by Jeff Minton; The Rolling Stones photographed by Hiro, album designed by Bea Feitler.]
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Fast News for September 24, 2010

Fast News for September 24, 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.

>> Covered as much by the foodie blogs as the media ones, news earlier this week that not only is Condé Nast's remaining food magazine, Bon Appétit, moving to NYC, but Editor Barbara Fairchild is parting ways with the magazine as well. Design Director Matthew Lenning left the title earlier in the summer.

>> Nancy Butkus is leaving the New York Observer to become Special Projects Art Director at Fairchild, working with former Observer editor Peter Kaplan...

>> Teenage Paparazzo -- a look at celebrity through the eyes of a young photographer -- premieres on HBO.


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Paper to Pixels v2: Lessons from Last Night

Paper to Pixels v2: Lessons from Last Night

In what is hopefully the first of many events dedicated to the new world of the iPad and other tablets, Joe Zeff, D.W. Pine, Neil Jamieson, Michael Lawton and Peter Herbert shared their lessons learned in this new frontier.

A few thoughts that stood out to me: 

Make It Happen
As D.W. Pine pointed out, don't think you're crazy making a mock-up of some rumored tech coming down the pike. It might happen, and if you're the one staring the conversation, you can lead a new path.

There Are No Experts.
We're all forging new paths with these new platforms and making things up as we go. Joe Zeff: "There are no rules. There are no paths."
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Paper to Pixels v2: Favorite Apps

Paper to Pixels v2: Favorite Apps

In advance of our first speaker series event dedicated to the iPad, we've asked our expert panel to submit their favorite apps. Here's a look at their fave design, news, and photo apps:

Design Apps
It's an interesting idea: taking web content and making it look like a designed magazine. hhhmmmm! -- D.W. Pine

Clean simple info graphics..plus you get the weather. 
Also like: 
 -- Michael Lawton and Peter Herbert

In my opinion the most successful magazine app on the iPad. The cells are beautifully composed, the diagrams and schematics are smart, entertaining and above all useful. The user experience is dynamic yet clear and the app is fun and easy to navigate. All this while maintaining brand consistency. --Neil Jameson

John Korpics' clean, crisp design aesthetic is perfectly suited for the iPad. --Joe Zeff
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Las Vegas Weekly Covers: Cool Altweekly Design from Sin City

Las Vegas Weekly Covers: Cool Altweekly Design from Sin City

Benjamen Purvis was the art director of alternative weekly Las Vegas Weekly from 2002-08. Confronted with a weekly cover budget averaging $250 and an extremely short production cycle, Purvis ended up doing a lot of the photography and illustration himself. He estimates that he photographed or illustrated over 225 covers during his stint at the Weekly. According to Purvis, "Covers were put together on the fly. I'd usually have two business days to execute them, and rarely got cover lines more than a few hours before the cover was due at the printer."

Las Vegas has three alt-weeklies, and its own unique culture. "I tried to do everything I could to make my covers stand out," says Purvis. "It was my hope to embrace regionalism, and mirror the spirit and history and mythology of Vegas whenever I could. There's more sin and skin on these covers than you'll see on a typical alt-weekly. We were trying to capture the 'what happens here, stays here' culture of Las Vegas, in as playful a way possible."

Purvis was laid off from the Weekly in October 2008 during a companywide downsizing. He's now the art director at Seattle Met, a monthly city magazine. We've collected some of his more memorable Las Vegas Weekly covers, along with some comments on how they were put together. Most of these covers were completely conceived, photographed, designed, and retouched by Purvis.

(Above): CineVegas 2003, June 12, 2003. Photograph by Benjamen Purvis.


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SPOTS(light) PARTY!

SPOTS(light) PARTY!

Please join us on Tuesday, September 28th as we celebrate our recent SPOTS winners and hand out some hardware! We'll fête the winners from May's competition, announce the Gold and Silver Award winners, and celebrate those little illustrations that say so much, so wonderfully. RSVP after the jump to see who's winning the Gold and Silver Awards, have a few drinks courtesy of our friends at Grolsch, and catch up with your favorite people in the worlds where ADs and Illustrators collide! … MORE
Fast News for September 16, 2010

Fast News for September 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.

>> Watch the #NewTwitter video here...

>> "On the internet, you're not on a human publishing cycle anymore. You're on a machine publishing cycle." More from Khoi Vinh, former Design Director for NYTimes.com, and his thoughts on news, design and the current state of news design, in this video...

>> Andrew Horton is the new creative director of Billboard...
Jimi Hendrix Covers

Jimi Hendrix Covers

September 18 marks the 40th anniversary of the death of rock guitarist supreme Jimi Hendrix, who passed away at the age of 27. He was only on a handful of Rolling Stone covers before his death, but since then countless music magazine covers have featured his iconic image. We love just about any Hendrix cover; here are some of our favorites.
Fast News for September 14, 2010

Fast News for September 14, 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.

>> Lots of shake-ups at Town & Country now that new editor Stephen Drucker is in the house. Several editors have been let go, and late last week art director Agnethe Glatved resigned...

>> Vogue.com relaunches...

>> Wallpaper* makes their cover "move"...

>> New editor Janice Min, formerly of US Weekly, is taking her new title Hollywood Reporter weekly and glossy, to "compete with the blogs." The summer staff-up continues...

>> Don't forget to vote in ASME and Amazon's Best Magazine Cover contest...

>> Apple is rumored to be readying the next version of the iPad for pre-Xmas release. It's going to come with video conferencing capability....
Milton Glaser Votes

Milton Glaser Votes

Andrea Bernstein just interviewed Milton Glaser on The Brian Lehrer Show (listen here). Her guests included Julie Lasky and others discussing the design of the new voting ballots. Milton Glaser disliked the new ballot design so much, he offered to redesign it for the Board of Elections. What do you think?  
Stranded Instant Magazine Project

Stranded Instant Magazine Project

When Andrew Losowsky of Magtastic Blogsplosion was stuck in Dublin during the Iceland volcano crisis earlier this spring, he decided to use the situation to produce an instant magazine, using stories and images from fellow stranded travelers. The result is Stranded, a cool, one-shot magazine printed by Magcloud, and now available for sale.

Designed by Matt McArthur of CMYK Design (from Edinburgh, who was stuck in NYC), Stranded is 88 pages, perfect bound, filled with smart, original visuals, photos, graphics and typography.

You can see the whole magazine in small form here, but better yet, buy a copy and support this very unique and original project. SPD talked with Andrew Losowsky, who gave us some background on how Stranded was produced. On the following page you can see some nifty inside pages from the magazine as well.
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Paper to Pixels v2: Meet the Panel

Paper to Pixels v2: Meet the Panel

Coming up on Wednesday, September 22 at the Helen Mills Theater: Paper to Pixel v2: iPad Apps. Meet our panel and get your tickets now (after the jump)--they're going fast.

Neil Jamieson, People
When your brand generates a billion dollars annually and the print magazine has a circulation of over 3.5 million the challenges of creating an iPad version can be pretty daunting! Deputy Design Director Neil Jamieson explains how People launched their app from rough sketches to the app store in only 3 months. Thanks to lots of negotiation with Apple to get a game changing subscription model that makes the People app free to print subscribers the People app reached the dizzying heights of being #1 on iTunes' top free apps list for 2 whole weeks (suck it Pac Man!), and thanks to a seriously talented and hard working art department the People app continues to evolve week after week...with a little help from Katy Perry! 

Michael Lawton and Peter Herbert, Popular Mechanics
Hip_PopMech.jpg
Michael and Peter's involvement with tablets and e-ink technology began almost two years ago working on various top-secret prototypes for Hearst. In fact you could say that Popular Mechanics has become the R&D department for the publisher. PM is filled with tech geeks so if something new is coming out there's a good chance Michael (DD) and Peter (Senior AD) are building something for it. For the iPad, Hearst's directive from the start was to build an App entirely in-house with minimal staff increases, putting this tag team's hands in every part of the prototype.


Hip_TIME.JPG
D.W. Pine, TIME
How do you take an 86-year-old iconic brand and transform it into a youthful upstart? Design Director D.W. Pine will show us how TIME kept its mission of clean, visual storytelling while becoming one of the first publications to launch on the iPad--and how they manage to do it every week!


Joe Zeff, Joe Zeff Design
Hip_Zeff.jpg
Joe and his studio, Joe Zeff Design, have been focused on the iPad since its announcement. They have partnered with Dr. Mario Garcia to advise publishing clients internationally on iPad development and Joe has spoken at the Poynter Institute of Media Studies on iPad business models for publishers, and integration strategies for mobile developers. The studio is working with Touch Press, publisher of The Elements, and PepsiCo on iPad projects, in addition to its robust portfolio of editorlal work, which includes app covers for TIME and Fortune.

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TV Guide's Weekly Photographic Treats

TV Guide's Weekly Photographic Treats

Earlier this year I worked with James Reyman, Kate Thompson, and Katherine Dillon on a redesign of TV Guide magazine. We worked with editor-in-chief Debra Birnbaum to revamp the structure and architecture of the magazine, introducing new typefaces, color palattes, and a new approach to structuring stories.

What we didn't change was their remarkable approach to cover and feature photography. TV Guide creative director Rose Fiorentino and design director Gloria Pantell have created an amazing collection of feature spreads and covers. The strategy for the magazine is simple: pack as much material into the pages as possible in terms of listings, news, and updates, and then devote one spread to an original photograph of a TV show cast. The result is a weekly treat for TV Guide readers, who love to see their favorite stars (in character) in intimate settings. With a small staff, limited resources, and a weekly production schedule, the TV Guide folks are creating exciting, engaging, original, and artful photographs and page designs. Of course we like to think that the redesign gave Fiorentino, Pantell, and Birnbaum just the right tools to frame their brilliant work, but actually a number of the pages featured below were done before the redesign.

(Above): Lost, photo illustration by Joe Zeff Design. Cover design by Gloria Pantell.
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Fast News for September 9, 2010

Fast News for September 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.

>> Conde Nast has named former Jane and Elle Girl editor Brandon Holley as editor in chief of Lucky magazine. She will succeed founding editor Kim France. Holley has been working as editor in chief for the Yahoo women's site Shine....

>> The New York Observer redesign debuted on Wednesday, done by design director Nancy Butkus. See sample pages from the new issue here...

>> More layoffs coming at Newsweek. Yesterday management announced that it's laying off 25% of employees by September 24...

>> New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger admits they will "stop printing" the paper sometime in the future, but that date is "TBD". We're hoping it's a future far, far away...

>> Long, in-depth interview with Maxim creative director Dirk Barnett, with lots of work samples. Don't miss this one!...
Worth Magazine's Illustrated Covers

Worth Magazine's Illustrated Covers

For the past year, Worth magazine design director Dean Sebring and illustrator Brian Stauffer have collaborated on a stunning series of illustrated covers. The magazine won a gold medal for redesign at this year's SPD Gala, and for good reason. Sebring has given the interior a major overhaul that is by turns smart, elegant, classic, and highly engaging. But it's the covers, illustrated by Stauffer, that are the signature look of the magazine, "the product of a partnering of design and illustration," as he puts it.

Sebring and Stauffer are both former art directors of alt weekly newspaper Miami New Times, where they met when Brian started doing illustrations for Dean. Their ongoing work at Worth, which Stauffer describes as "organic, collaborative, and experimental," are as close as anyone can get these days to the classic Fortune illustrated covers of the 1930s-50s.
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Fast News for September 7, 2010

Fast News for September 7, 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.

>> R.I.P. longtime LA Times political cartoonist Paul Conrad. He won three Pulitzer Prizes for his pointed, liberal-leaning cartoons, which appeared in daily newspapers for six decades...

>> Mark your calendars! SPD is presenting an iPad evening on September 22, featuring magazine art directors talking about their first generation apps....and what comes next. Tickets are going to sell out fast, so watch the website for info very soon...

>> Weekly newspaper New York Observer launches redesign this Wednesday, abandons much of their front page caricature illustration for photo illustration....

>> Growth is good: Wenner's Men's Journal is picking up one of the issues it eliminated as a cost-cutting measure in 2010: the July issue will be back in 2011. People StyleWatch will also add an 11th issue.

>> The Atlantic to follow paid iPad edition with new 'Atlantic Premium'
Pub 45: Student Competition

Pub 45: Student Competition

THE STUDENT COMPETITION & THE ADOBE SCHOLARSHIP IN HONOR OF B.W. HONEYCUTT - Established in 1995, this competition honors the life and work of B.W. Honeycutt. It recognizes exceptional design by students with awards and three cash prizes: the Adobe Scholarship in Honor of B.W. Honeycutt, the first-place prize of $2500; second-place prize of $1000; and a third-place prize of $500. The top winners also received summer internships magazines in New York City. Chaired by Ian Doherty, Art Director at Food Network Magazine, this juried competition acknowledges the student designer and the teachers who develop their unique talents.
 
In recognizing the promise of each student, Adobe affirms the creative possibilities inherent in the individual. Throughout its partnership with SPD, Adobe is helping shape the next generation of creative professionals. Together we are building the groundwork that will sustain and further artistic accomplishments within the editorial design community.
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Celebrate Labor Day with Time Labor Leader Covers

Celebrate Labor Day with Time Labor Leader Covers

Monday, September 6 is Labor Day, and what better way to celebrate than to look at some classic Time magazine covers of labor leaders! It was a different time in America when just the last name of these labor titans: Hoffa, Reuther, Lewis, would strike fear into the hearts of big capitalists everywhere. Here are six classic Time covers to warm the hearts and souls or working men and women.

Above: Cesar Chavez, president of the United Farm Workers Union, July 4, 1969. Illustration by Manuel Gregorio Acosta.


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Pub 45: Spots

Pub 45: Spots

Chair Matthew Lenning led the 23rd Annual SPOTS competition, championing the little illustrations that say so much. From hundreds of entries, the judges selected a class of illustrations that do an excellent job of amplifying the editorial message, from a wide spectrum of publications. Winners are featured in a visual index here, and celebrated more extensively in a very limited-edition book published biannually, The SPOTS Book, showcasing both the illustrations and smaller versions of the original editorial pages that featured the work.


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TENNIS Magazine Covers the Open

TENNIS Magazine Covers the Open

Tennis Design Director Gary Stewart helps us get amped for this year's US Open with more great work...
I'm sure that those amazing New York Times videos have already inspired everyone to hop the 7 train to Queens, but first let's pause for some historical perspective, shall we? Here's a quick look back at five decades of U.S. Open TENNIS covers.
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Fast News for September 2, 2010

Fast News for September 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.

>> Bon Appetit design director Matthew Lenning has left the magazine and is moving to Austin to start his own studio....

>> Katherine Van Itallie is the new art director at Redbook...

>> GQ art director Anton Ioukhnovets is leaving to freelance...

>> Kate Elazegui has left her position as design director of Money magazine to become creative director at SYPartners, a design/strategy/innovation firm....

>> Jennifer Miller is the new photography editor at New York magazine. She was previously photography director at Cosmopolitan...

>> Paste magazine, the indie music publication based in Georgia, announced on September 1 that it's ceasing publication...

>> Apple announced that iOS 4.2 will be released in November, finally bringing iOS 4.x support to the iPad. The free update will include multitasking, wireless printing as well as a new feature called AirPlay, which replaces AirTunes. AirPlay will offer streaming of video, music, and photos.
Pub 45: Competition Credits

Pub 45: Competition Credits

The SPD Annual Judging Weekend is a tremendous event bringing together the most experienced and admired creatives working with editorial content today, challenging them to sift through thousands of entries in just a few days to find the best of the best you see featured in this book. In order to accomplish so much, in such a short time, requires the outstanding effort of so many--once again, however, SPD is blessed to have outstanding support from many, and they make it look easy. Debra Bishop, Creative Director, More, and Casey Tierney, Photo Director, Real Simple, (Co-Chairs), Jeremy LaCroix, Creative Director, CBS Interactive (Online Chair), Bruce Ramsay (Magazine of the Year Chair), and Nancy Stamatopoulos (Competition Coordinator) extend an enormous thank-you on behalf of SPD to all the judges and volunteers for their support in making the judging happen this year during a very wintry weekend in January at FIT.

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The First Mother Jones Cover, Illustrated by Dugald Stermer

The First Mother Jones Cover, Illustrated by Dugald Stermer

In a recent interview on the SPD site, Mother Jones creative director Tim J Luddy referenced the first cover of the magazine, in 1976, as an influence on his current work. We asked Luddy for a copy of that cover, illustrated by Dugald Stermer, and he responded with that one and two more from Mother Jones's first year of publishing. Here's what Luddy has to say about them:

Tim J Luddy: Dugald Stermer, who was listed as a consultant on the Mother Jones masthead through the August 1976 issue of the magazine, illustrated three of our covers that year. The February/March 1976 issue, our first, featured a racially-integrated version of the Archibald M. Willard painting, "Spirit of '76." He got all Renaissance on us for our "June MCMLXXVI" issue, for a story on "The New Conservatives." This cover was based on a portrait of Count Tommaso Inghirami by Raphael. And to illustrate our July 1976 story, which was critical of Jerry Brown's new politics, Stermer painted a portrait of Brown on canvas and slashed open its center, revealing a portrait of Dwight D. Eisenhower behind it. The styles of these three covers, and even the signatures on each one, show a remarkable stylistic range. Regarding that, Stermer says, "Obviously I was still trying to find myself as an illustrator, after long careers as a graphic designer and magazine editor/art director." Mother Jones's art director at this time was Louise Kollenbaum.

Read 3 Questions with Tim J. Luddy of Mother Jones here.

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