SPD 50
09.16.14
posted by Robert Newman
Welcome to
From the SPD Archives, a weekly look back at graphics, publications, people, photographs, and more from deep in the Society of Publications Designers history. We'll be publishing one or two of these a week for the coming year to celebrate
SPD's 50th anniversary. If you've got pictures or visual remembrances of your own that relate to SPD and magazine making history, please send them to us at
mail@spd.org.
Our first archival delight is the cover of
Publication Design 12, the very first SPD hardbound design annual, published in 1978. The cover is an illustration by
Bill Nelson, art directed by
Steve Phillips, who was the art director at
New Times magazine. It's a reproduction of the 1977 SPD Call for Entries, a poster that was folded and mailed to members. Editing and design of the inside pages is credited to
Liz Wilbur, from
American Heritage magazine.
Inside, the book was printed entirely in black and white, except for 12 pages of color reproductions of the top awards, including the Best of Show
Jerome Snyder Award, given to
Stuart Silver and
Alvin Grossman for
American Ephemera, the publication of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As was common at the time, the credits for winning entries included information on the typesetter, color separator, printer, and paper manufacturer.
(Scroll down to the bottom of this story to click on a larger-size version of this cover.) …
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