Will Burtin, Scope magazine cover, 1952

These are the questions I’m typically asked at speaking engagements: “What is your inspiration, are you hiring designers, and what is your favorite part of being a designer?” The answers are: “How much time do you have, sometimes, and working deeply with different businesses.” I like working with a client and learning about their industry or discipline in depth. It’s impossible to work for a medical client on a diagram illustrating the process of clinical trials without understanding the subject. Or to design signage for a hospital and not understand patient and doctor behavior issues.

Will Burtin never worked on the surface. His work is clearly the result of an impressive and deep understanding of the subject. He was a master of re-framing complex scientific and medical issues with design. His elegant solutions provided simple and clear access for an audience without deep medical knowledge. This goes beyond nice information graphics. His work with Scope magazine for Upjohn is a masterpiece of scale, shape, typography, and pacing. But, it also adds a layer of deep information about complex and confusing subjects.

It is convenient to say, “I don’t have time to learn this,” and fall back to the old bag of design tricks. The result is a perfectly adequate layout. But this is not only a disservice to the client; it is a lost opportunity to do dig into a subject deeply. Good design takes time, not because designers like to move a 7 point line of Garamond back and forth 1 pica. It takes time to learn, digest, and re-articulate with intelligence and craft.

images from the Lou Danziger Collection

Will Burtin, Scope magazine cover, 1951

Will Burtin, Scope magazine spread, 1951

Will Burtin, Scope magazine spread, 1951

Will Burtin, Scope magazine cover, 1951

Will Burtin, Scope magazine spread, 1955

Will Burtin, Scope magazine spread, 1955

Will Burtin, Scope magazine spread, 1955

Will Burtin, Scope magazine cover, 1955

Will Burtin, Scope magazine spread, 1957

Will Burtin, Scope magazine spread, 1957

Will Burtin, Scope magazine cover, 1957

Will Burtin, Scope magazine spread, 1957

Will Burtin, Scope magazine spread, 1957

Will Burtin, Scope magazine spread, 1957

Share This Story

Echo magazine, 1960, page

It’s a sad fact that many of us were forced to buy a record at a record store, go home, listen to the one song you liked, and then hate the rest of the album. But, tough luck. That was how the world worked pre-digital music downloads. Horrible. Today, I can create my own playlist, ignore the crap songs on the rest of an album, and even take a walk while listening.

In 1960, however, true interactive music media was invented. Echo magazine was a “magazine you play on your phonograph.” Pretty cool. You could read an article, and play a record bound into the publication. This made magazines seem stupid because they didn’t have sound, and records equally dumb, because they only had liner notes. Boring.

Unfortunately, a magazine/record didn’t catch on in 1960. In reality, the issue could have been manufacturing related. I have this issue, and I’ll be damned if I can figure out how to separate the record from the pages. I don’t want to put the whole magazine on the turntable and flip around. The cover may also have added to the confusion. Only today, did I realize that it’s a representation of a phonograph player. For years, I thought it was someone’s arm and hand who was very shaky.

Echo magazine, 1960, page

Echo magazine, 1960, the clear vinyl record

Echo magazine, 1960, spread and record (the right page)

Echo magazine, 1960, typography

Echo magazine, 1960, spread with Shelley Berman

Echo magazine, 1960, page with France Nuyen

Echo magazine, 1960, spread with Brigitte Bardot

Echo magazine, 1960, cover

Share This Story

Look Magazine Cover, The Sixties, Allen Hurlburt, 1969

Every year, someone pipes up about traditional publication design being dead. We are told that today’s reader views information differently and printed publications must change. If I listened to the current theory, every page should have multiple layers of information, presented in multiple typefaces, icons, and colors. A good page design should emulate a CNN screen. If I wanted to find joy in the barrage of information on a CNN or Bloomberg screen, I could take screen grabs, print them out, bind them, and put them on the coffee table.

The problem with this is pacing. Good publications are paced like film. There should be quiet moments, big explosions, close-ups, long shots, and points for contemplation. 500 pages of dense faux-information does not do this. Allen Hurlburt served as the creative director at Look Magazine from 1953 until 1971. His issues of Look are treasures. They follow a clear grid, are graceful, calm, and powerful at the same time. We’re currently designing an annual report for one of our clients. When I explained the thinking behind our direction, I simply said, “Look magazine.” I didn’t need to say anything else. Everyone said, “Yes. Exactly. Perfect.”

from the Lou Danziger collection

Look Magazine, The Sixties, Allen Hurlburt, 1969

Look Magazine, The Sixties, Allen Hurlburt, 1969

Look Magazine, The Sixties, Allen Hurlburt, 1969

Look Magazine, The Sixties, Allen Hurlburt, 1969

Look Magazine, The Sixties, Allen Hurlburt, 1969

Look Magazine, The Sixties, Allen Hurlburt, 1969

Look Magazine, The Sixties, Allen Hurlburt, 1969

Look Magazine, The Sixties, Allen Hurlburt, 1969

Look Magazine, The Sixties, Allen Hurlburt, 1969

Share This Story

Star Scandals, 1992

Before TMZ and online gossip sites, there was Star magazine Scandals. Noreen claims I speak like I’m in a 1950s low-end movie. This may be true. From what I’ve been told, “Swell,” is no longer used in everyday language. I’d much rather speak in Star magazine headlines, “I’m not under thirty. I’m not an alcoholic. I don’t need another Hollywood bar designer get-together.” The verbiage is matched only by the design. This is proof that modernism failed. Less is less here, and once is never enough.

Is there a grid? Who cares when Fergie romps topless with her Texas millionaire as her children watch? Are there typographic consistencies? “Princess Caroline’s husband zooms to his doom. Kiss Papa goodbye,” does not need a common type size. The Scandal issue is the design equivalent of “Shock and Awe.” Every page is a barrage of information screaming at the highest volume. Every fact is extreme.

This is how all copy should be written, regardless of the client. The exhibition, Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects, at MOMA should be renamed, “Stalker Machines Terrorize and Attack Innocent Hipsters.” The New York Times should reconsider headlines such as “Obama Administration Calls for Syrian President to Step Down” to “Pres Lashes Out in Furious Rage at Evil Tyrant.” See how much more exciting the news could be.

Star Scandals, Sgt. Pepper cover concept

Star Scandals, fame does have its hardships

Star Scandals, Deco type equals child stars

Star Scandals, Moppet stab

Star Scandals, no image is too low rez

Star Scandals, All cap extravaganza

Star Scandals, Liz slam

Share This Story

I love working with clients who are smart. Duh. They know what they want, their business, audience, and how a design job happens. Cedars-Sinai is one of those for us. We’ve worked on several projects for them and each project continues to be challenging and rewarding intellectually and aesthetically. We recently completed the Cedars-Sinai magazine, Discoveries. Now I can boast about it, because I had only a part in its creation. Everyone in the office from Nathan, Monica, Chris, Terry, and Noreen worked to make a fantastic publication. Monica said it best when I asked her why she was happy with the final project, “This project was one of those wonderful examples of transcending the designer/client boundary and really working together as a team. We collaborated directly with Laura Grunberger at Cedars-Sinai and her staff; sharing ideas, refining concepts, and determining the vision for the magazine as a whole.” Monica clearly has a far better talent for articulation than I.

When someone asks me if print is dead, Discoveries is a great response. There is something about holding a physical artifact and spending time reading it, as opposed to looking at an article and reading a paragraph on screen. Colorgraphics printed almost 150,000 copies. And we used Mohawk 50/10, of course.

In the end, this project had a million moving parts, but the team worked together so flawlessly that it came together and looked effortless. That’s good design for me: work that looks easy not desperate. As I’ve said before, desperation is bad on a date, and in design.

Cedars-Sinai Discoveries magazine, Fall 2010

Cedars-Sinai Discoveries magazine, Fall 2010

Cedars-Sinai Discoveries magazine, Fall 2010

Cedars-Sinai Discoveries magazine, Fall 2010

Cedars-Sinai Discoveries magazine, Fall 2010

Cedars-Sinai Discoveries magazine, Fall 2010

Cedars-Sinai Discoveries magazine, Fall 2010

Cedars-Sinai Discoveries magazine, Fall 2010

Cedars-Sinai Discoveries magazine, Fall 2010

Cedars-Sinai Discoveries magazine, Fall 2010

Cedars-Sinai Discoveries magazine, Fall 2010

Share This Story