December 2010 Archives

2010 Rewind: Vote for Your Favorite Cover of the Day

2010 Rewind: Vote for Your Favorite Cover of the Day

This year we started a new feature on Grids, the Cover of the Day. In honor of the coming new year, and looking forward to hundreds of new, exciting, challenging covers to share with you in 2011, we're asking you to vote for your own favorite Cover of the Day from 2010. And we're already taking it to 11 for you to choose from:… MORE
Fast News for December 30, 2010

Fast News for December 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.

>> Magtastic Blogsplosion reviews their top three magazines of 2010. Number 3 is Bloomberg Businessweek...

>> Magazine iPad apps sales are slumping. WWD reports Men's Health, Glamour, Vanity Fair, GQ and Wired have seen sales numbers drop....

>> The results of the Coverjunkie.com 2010 most creative cover poll are in and the winner is Granta's Sex cover...
2010: The Year on SPD.org In Rewind

2010: The Year on SPD.org In Rewind

Apple launched a new device ... Alternative Weeklies shined ...  We collected Rare Specimens ... HOW turned 25 ... Entertainment Weekly turned 20 ... Details turned "10" ... Celebrated Black History Month, Valentine's Day, Halloween, Baseball, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and Summer ... Drooled over drop caps ... Discovered Best Books Ever ... Went behind the design with Rihanna ... Mourned the loss of Nick Dewar ... Redesigned ... Collected white covers ... Had breakfast with George Lois ... Covered the iPad ... Went mad with SI ... Went to the movies ... Discovered new blogs ... Saw NEW WORK ... Went overboard with Photoshop ... Launched magazine apps ... Went back to the future .... Tuned into classic TV Guide covers ... Learned self defense with a rolled up magazine ... Got "inspired" ... Looked back at 45 years of SPD ... The Face turned 30 ... SPIN turned 25 ... Posed for great photos ... O, The Oprah Magazine turned 10 ... Had something to say about ReadyMedia ... Debuted our MEDIA MIX news update... Saw web fonts take off ... Had Three Questions asked and answered ... Enjoyed some effing good typography ... Looked back at 1,000 TIME covers ... Loved Albert Watson ... Got hooked on the Cover of the Day ... Looked back at MUSICIAN ... Auctioned artwork ... Got a Rap Tutorial for Photoshop ... And had more fun more often

Best wishes and looking forward to turning it up to "11" next year!
Good Cents

Good Cents

The Lincoln penny has a new verso, only the third since its introduction in 1909. I made a line-up of our legal tender and was surprised by what I saw; a brief history of the American economy as writ by the U.S. Mint.
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Cover of the Day, December 29, 2010

Cover of the Day, December 29, 2010

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for COTD_Icon2.jpgWelcome 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.


Seattle Weekly, December 22, 2010.
Art Director: Boo Davis
Photographs: Alfred Eisenstaedt/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images, sailors by Joshua Huston
New Digital Categories for Pub 46

New Digital Categories for Pub 46

For the 2011 competition, we expanded the digital categories to account for the ever evolving world of digital and include new platforms like the iPad. This year we have divided digital into four main groups. The first group includes Typography, Illustration, Photography, Video and more. But this work is platform agnostic. After all, great illustration is great on any device. 

Next we have groups for Online, Smartphone and Tablet as this groups has awards that are more specific to their platform. Site, Smartphone and Table "of the year" awards also have new categories to include aesthetics vs. functionality and those that are and are not associated with a print brand.

The full list of categories is after the jump, and if you have any questions, please leave us a comment here, or shoot us an email.

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Cover of the Day, December 27th, 2010

Cover of the Day, December 27th, 2010

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for COTD_Icon2.jpgWelcome 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.


Westword, December 9, 2010
Art Director: Jay Vollmar
Illustrator: Pete Ryan
Fast News for December 23, 2010

Fast News for December 23, 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.

>> Andrew Losowsky of Magtastic Blogsplosion lists his Top 10 magazine covers of 2010....

>> Real Simple has a new iPad app, Real Simple Recipes: No Time to Cook? It includes 850 recipes....


The Art Direction of Musician Magazine: Patrick Mitchell

The Art Direction of Musician Magazine: Patrick Mitchell

For much of the 1980s and 90s, Musician magazine served as a home for creative art direction and imagery. It was a place where art directors learned their trade while producing cool covers and feature spreads. Art directors during this period included Gary Koepke, David Carson, Patrick Mitchell, John Korpics, and Miriam Campiz.

This is the fourth part of our month-long celebration of the art direction of Musician, featuring the work of Patrick Mitchell, who was the art director from 1989-1991. He had been doing Sunday newspaper magazines at The Dallas Morning News and Detroit Free Press before moving to Gloucester, Massachusetts, where Musician was based. Mitchell left Musician to be the art director of Garbage magazine, and in 1995 became the design director of Fast Company. In 2003 he launched PlutoMedia, where he is currently creative director.

(Above): November 1991.
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Our Type of People

Our Type of People

If your office is a little on the slow side this week thanks to holiday fun and frenzy, a quick reminder that in addition to prepping your entries for SPD's PUB 46 (why scramble that week after New Year's? get this done in 2010! PUB 46 entry forms here) the Type Directors Club annual competition is also accepting entries now for their January 12th deadline. Enter online here and show off that amazing typography you're using in your magazine!
Cover of the Day, December 22, 2010

Cover of the Day, December 22, 2010

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for COTD_Icon2.jpgWelcome 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.

ESPN The Magazine, December 27, 2010
Design director: Siung Tjia
Illustration by Justin Wood
How Magazines are Really Made

How Magazines are Really Made

I'm guessing many of you may have already seen this insider infographical gem from Andrew Losowsky of Stack America, who cooked it up along with the art team at Bloomberg
Businessweek
. Still we just couldn't resist sharing this healthy dose of cynical fun with our audience on the off chance you missed it.
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Victoria Advocate's Special Tron Section

Victoria Advocate's Special Tron Section

Texas daily newspaper Victoria Advocate published a special Tron edition of their weekly Get Out entertainment section. Art directed and illustrated by Ryan Huddle, the section's eight pages connect together to form an uninterrupted series of photographs, stories, graphics, and a timeline. And it's all done in-house with movie stills and existing imagery.
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Fast News for December 21, 2010

Fast News for December 21, 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.

>> Rupert Murdoch's new iPad newspaper app, The Daily, is scheduled to launch on January 17....

>> New iPad study shows the most popular activity on the tablets is reading news. Nearly half use it as their primary news source....

>> Apple's iPad 2.0 rumored to debut in April, with front and rear-facing cameras...

>> 2010: The Year in Magazines. A roundup by Magtastic Blogsplosion...
Second Annual Best Xmas Magazine Covers, Part 2

Second Annual Best Xmas Magazine Covers, Part 2

Here's our second batch of fabulous Xmas magazine covers. See the first part here.

Special thanks to David Keeps, Stephen Kroninger, and Linda Rubes for their help in compiling these covers.

(Above): Social, December 1928.
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Cover of the Day, December 20, 2010

Cover of the Day, December 20, 2010

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for COTD_Icon2.jpgWelcome 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.

Dallas Observer, December 9, 2010
Art Director: Alexander Flores
Illustrator: Alexander Flores
The Year In Ideas 2010

The Year In Ideas 2010

Sunday brings another big bold cover package with online must-see extras from The New York Times Magazine, their 2010 Year In Ideas issue. Design Director Arem Duplessis gives us some backstory:
2010 marked the 10th Year Anniversary of the "Year In Ideas" issue so we decided to celebrate. For the cover our mandate was to do a Q.R. or "quick response" code so we commissioned Karim Charlebois-Zariffa to come up with an innovative way of representing the code.
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The Hollywood Reporter Relaunch

The Hollywood Reporter Relaunch

The Hollywood Reporter recently relaunched in print and online and debuted a sharp hybrid print/web iPad app. The 80-year old tinseltown trade pub relaunched in print in early November, shifting from a standard sized daily to oversized weekly magazine. The blog style website leverages the print publications typography through dynamic web fonts, and their ipad app shifts between weekly print publication and up-to-the-minute web-based news based on iPad orientation. The print side of their iPad app serves up articles on both sides of their pay wall.
THR creative director Shanti Marlar takes us behind the scenes:

The mission was to create a large-format magazine (10" x 13") that was glamorous and up-scale but still newsy and informative. The magazine needed to transcend B2B and become B2Influener, could sell on the newsstand and still fulfill the subscribers demands. Think Vanity Fair meets the Economist.
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Holiday Recap + Raffle Winners Announced!

Holiday Recap + Raffle Winners Announced!

The night was quite a bender as many members and friends of SPD (as well as many, many new ones) came out to toast the holidays and enjoy the good times. Captured moments from the shenanigans can be viewed here.

Congrats to the list of WINNERS after the jump:
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Joe Zeff Design's First App: Simple and Elegant

Joe Zeff Design's First App: Simple and Elegant

Joe Zeff Design has produced their first iPad app, a digital studio tour for Splashlight photography studio. It's simple, elegant, and extremely well realized. Joe Zeff and his crew have been involved in a number of magazine apps (including an animated Fortune cover), but this is the first one they created themselves, developing it with Woodwing. Although it's not a magazine app, there's good learning here in terms of design, navigation, and efficiency (and it's free).
Fast News for December 16, 2010

Fast News for December 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.

>> Ad Age publishes their Top 10 publication covers of 2010....

>> Be sure to vote in the Coverjunkie Most Creative Cover of 2010 poll...

>> Thanks to Magculture for the above two links. Visit the site for the latest updates on magazine and app news and design...

>> Have you upgraded your iPad with the latest OS (4.2.1)? We hadn't, until Joe Zeff tipped us off and showed us how. His handy how-to guide here...
Three Question Interview with Chris Rochelle, Photographer, CHOW.com

Three Question Interview with Chris Rochelle, Photographer, CHOW.com

JL: You recently photographed a series of Christmas food images for CHOW.com entirely on Kodachrome film in homage to the medium which is being dealt its final death blow as the last processor of the film stock in the world, Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas, ceases to support its development on December 23rd. What was that experience like? Had you shot in Kodachrome before?MORE
Holiday, Holi-daze: Party Countdown

Holiday, Holi-daze: Party Countdown

This weekend the Off-Duty section of the Wall Street Journal featured a Q&A with Soho House's founder Nick Jones. One of his party deal-breakers? "A cash bar. We are all busy but you've just got to be a generous host."

Whew. Thank heavens we're in the clear here: for just your ticket, the drinks at tonight's SPD Holiday Party are completely on us from 7-10pm, and it's quite a nice little mix we've got. Your holiday cocktail choices include Ketel One Vodka or Johnnie Walker Black, or lovely wines from our pals at Bear Flag. Of course, we can't let you go for all that on an empty stomach, so we've got yummy treats lined up: popcorn chicken bites, quesadillas, sliders, chips and guacamole and, because we're all about your health, a lovely sampling of veggie crudités.

So brace yourselves, members and friends: between our awesome DJ Eric Johnson spinning his vinyl selects, holiday raffles galore, great drinks and yummy treats, and just the best people around, it's going to be a glittering good time. The coat check team is already in place, the disco ball's been polished, so all we need is you: get tickets after the jump by 2pm and save $$, or we'll see you at the door tonight.

Cheers! … MORE
Cover of the Day, December 15, 2010

Cover of the Day, December 15, 2010

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for COTD_Icon2.jpgWelcome 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.


The New Republic, December 31, 2010
Creative & Photo Director: Joseph Heroun
Illustrator: Sean McCabe

CMY Killa: Photoshop Tutorial Rap

The Art Direction of Musician Magazine: Miriam Campiz

The Art Direction of Musician Magazine: Miriam Campiz

For much of the 1980s and 90s, Musician magazine served as a home for creative art direction and imagery. It was a place where art directors learned their trade while producing cool covers and feature spreads. Art directors during this period included Gary Koepke, David Carson, Patrick Mitchell, John Korpics, and Miriam Campiz.

This is the third part of our month-long celebration of the art direction of Musician, featuring the work of Miriam Campiz. After stints as an art director at The Boston Globe and Entertainment Weekly, Miriam headed up the art direction of Musician from 1983-85. After leaving she went on to art direct for Newsweek, Latina, Time, Allure, and many more publications, as well as teaching typography and graphic design at SVA and CUNY Baruch.

(Above): August 1994, Glenn Danzig. Photograph by Norman Watson.
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Fast News for December 14, 2010

Fast News for December 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.

>> Nadia Vellam is the new photo editor of WSJ, the Wall Street Journal magazine...

>> Jill Armus is the new creative director of Everyday With Rachel Ray. She was previously the creative director of Prevention...

>> Darhil Crooks is the new creative director of Ebony. He was previously art director at Esquire...

>> Time art director D.W. Pine compiles the magazine's annual Top 10 magazine covers of 2010. Number 1: Eminem on the cover of Rolling Stone...
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Cover of the Day, December 13, 2010

Cover of the Day, December 13, 2010

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for COTD_Icon2.jpgWelcome 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.

GO, December 2010
Art Director: Shane Luitjens
Illustrator: Greg Stevenson
Meet your DJ - ERIC JOHNSON

Meet your DJ - ERIC JOHNSON

When photographer Eric Johnson isn't busy photographing musicians such as R&B artist Maxwell or various Hollywood Directors by day, by night he can sometimes be found entertaining friends and out-goers by providing some of the grooviest of tunes with his turntable skills. SPD is thrilled to have him spin at our very own holiday bash this Wednesday 12/15 for our listening/dancing pleasure. His work can be viewed here.
Holiday Raffle Preview

Holiday Raffle Preview

On Wednesday, December 15th we'll be celebrating the holidays at The Lott (51 W21st Street) where there will be some fantastic giveaways to be raffled off (silently) after the event. Out of town? Don't fret... for those members that can't join us in person for the festivities, send us a note by 12/14/2011 to mail@spd.org with "SECRET SANTA" in the subject line, stating what raffle items you'd like your five tickets placed on (all five on one, or split up, we'll do the work for you!). Winning names will be posted with pictures of the swag here on the site the day after the event.
Preview description of the goodies after the jump...
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Heed the Call

Heed the Call

Having buried my desk in old yellow newsprint, scraped toner, paper fiber dust and done my best to make 2 color printers here feel like old whipped mules in the process: Download the official call for entries for Pub 46. (And bring your A-game!)
-BK
Fast News for December 9, 2010

Fast News for December 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.

>> Good news: Time Inc. CEO Jack Griffin announces that the company will forgo its annual pre-holiday layoffs this year....

>> The Brenda Starr newspaper comic strip is ending its 70-year run on January 2....

>> New Mac/Life iPad app, The Essential iPhone and iPad Answers Guide. Smart idea....
Making a Scene

Making a Scene

This Sunday's edition of The New York Times Magazine brings their annual Hollywood Issue,  with black and white portraits shot by Solve Sundsbo -- and, for the first time, accompanied by 14 one-minute videos that each tell their own story, "not only the art, but also the joy and vigor of performance."

Over on the NYT's The Lens Blog, Director of Photography Kathy Ryan gives more detail about the project, saying, "We had to get somewhere really quickly with an impact. And it had to be beautiful."

Like the photo portfolio, the videos were directed by Sundsbo and produced by the photo team at the magazine, including Ryan, Joanna Milter and Miki Meek.

Most tellingly, according to the NYT, "This is the first time that video has been as significant as the print portfolio." Check out all the videos here, and see the photo portraits in this Sunday's copy of The New York Times Magazine.
Star Wars Typographic Posters

Star Wars Typographic Posters

The H-57 design studio, based in Milan, has created a set of Star Wars typographic posters. The portraits of Darth Vader, Yoda and a storm trooper are completely created with fonts. And best of all, the posters have a list of all the fonts and characters used, so you can make your own Star Wars faces at home!

(Above): Darth Vader. His mouth is a Rockwell Regular W.
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Cover of the Day, December 8, 2010

Cover of the Day, December 8, 2010

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for COTD_Icon2.jpgWelcome 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 from around the world.


Riverfront Times
, December 2, 2010.
Art Director: Tom Carlson
Illustrator: Patrick Faricy.
China Reform Magazine

China Reform Magazine

For the past nine months, New York-based Nai Lee Lum has been consulting creative director for China Reform magazine, based in Beijing. Before starting this project, Lum was the Fortune international edition art director. She has teamed up with illustrator Edel Rodriguez to create a remarkable series of covers for China Reform. Here are four of our favorites.

(Above): December 2010. The China Reform logo is based on actual calligraphy by former Chinese premier Deng Xiaoping.
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New York Magazine Graphics Get Love From Creative Review

New York Magazine Graphics Get Love From Creative Review

New York magazine's infographics got some major love recently from UK advertising and design magazine Creative Review. Their blog did a loving post called "New York magazine: Data done right," and Monograph, their subscriber bonus publication, reproduced a stack of New York pages. And best of all, the latest cover of Creative Review features a nifty guide to the contents of the magazine, created as a chart by New York design director Chris Dixon and his crew.


Fast News for December 7, 2010

Fast News for December 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.

>> George McCalman has left Afar to start his own studio...

>> Former Fortune graphics editor Linda Eckstein has posted her 2005 Print magazine story on the history of Fortune graphics. Lush illustrations, major wow factor....

>> World War 3 Illustrated is having a 30-year retrospective at Exit Art in NYC. The magazine, edited by Peter Kuper and Seth Tobocman, features cutting edge political comics, graphics and illlustrations. The opening is tonight from 7-9pm at 475 10th Ave...

>> Magculture reviews the new Project iPad app and although critical, finds some good elements in it...

>> Art director Wilbert Gutierrez has an updated website, with great covers and feature spreads from George, Men's Health, Entertainment Weekly, Muscle & Fitness Hers, and Sly magazine...
Have You Been Training?

Have You Been Training?

It's coming... … MORE
The Art Direction of Musician Magazine: John Korpics

The Art Direction of Musician Magazine: John Korpics

For much of the 1980s and 90s, Musician magazine served as a home for creative art direction and imagery. It was a place where art directors learned their trade while producing cool covers and feature spreads. Art directors during this period included Gary Koepke, David Carson, Patrick Mitchell, John Korpics, and Miriam Campiz.

This is the second part of our month-long celebration of the art direction of Musician, featuring the work of John Korpics. Korpics was the design director for 11 months, in 1992. Before that he had been the art director at Regardie's magazine in Washington, DC. After Musician, Korpics went on to be the design director of Premiere, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, Esquire, and InStyle. He is currently the design director at Fortune.

(Above): John Korpics: "My favorite Musician cover. I always hated the logo though. It was the ugliest logo I've ever had to design with. It was like putting a big turd on my covers."


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Cover of the Day, December 6, 2010

Cover of the Day, December 6, 2010

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for COTD_Icon2.jpgWelcome 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.

Seattle Met, December 2010
Design Director: Benjamen Purvis
Photographer: Charlie Schuck
Stylist: Ashley Helvey
Chasing Beauty

Chasing Beauty

Hey all,
I wanted to take a moment and share a non-mag project I worked on that just hit stores.
My friend, photographer Richard Phibbs was having his first book published and asked me to do all the typography for the book. (Which i had to think about for all of two seconds.)

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Fast News for December 2, 2010

Fast News for December 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.

>> Advertising Age announced their Media Vanguard Awards. Among the winners are Popular Mechanics iPad Edition, Mac | Life for iPad, USA Today iPad Edition, Wall Street Journal iPad Edition, Getty Images iPad app, EW Must List iPad app and more...

>> New for your news feed: Jean Snow, our guide to design and pop culture in Tokyo, has spun-off his magazine obsession (we love) into a new site, The Magaziner...

>> Chicago magazine has a gallery of 40 covers from their archives, to celebrate their 40th anniversary...

>> Pure fun: Doug Gilford's Mad Cover Site. A collection of every Mad magazine cover, starting with issue #1 in 1952 (and there's a credit for every cover artist)....
Mag App: Project magazine

Mag App: Project magazine

Engadget sat down with Sir Richard Branson to discuss the launch of his iPad-only Project magazine ($2.99 per issue). Sir Engaget reports that Branson had "no f**king idea why" Project was only on the iPad and not on the web -- although he did say Project was a "proper magazine" and not "just thrown together for the web."

Project launches ahead of News Corp.'s new iPad newspaper The Daily, which is expected to launch in the next few weeks.

Watch their interview with Sir Richard after the jump...
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Join Us! Wednesday 12/15

Join Us! Wednesday 12/15

'Tis the season once again... for some good times!
Join SPD for our annual Holiday Extravaganza on Wednesday, December 15th at The Lott (55 W21 st, NYC) for hours of drinks (courtesy of our great friends at BearFlag), food, great tunes and sweet prizes. A special treat for our out-of-town-members: Check back in with spd.org for a preview of the great giveaways up for grabs that night to enter your raffles--we want to ship some of these great prizes to you! Winners will be posted online after the event.

SPD Members: Just $5 in advance (or $10 CASH at the door the night of) (need to renew? do that here)
Non-Members: $20 in advance (or $30 CASH at the door the night of)

BUY TICKETS to get on the guest list after the jump (and save $$$!)

12.15.10 - 7PM - The Lott - 55 W 21st Street (between 5th/6th ave)


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Cover of the Day, December 1, 2010

Cover of the Day, December 1, 2010

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for COTD_Icon2.jpgWelcome 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 Boston Globe, G section, November 26, 2010
Art Director: Martin Gee
Typography: Martin Gee

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