The American Society of Magazine Editors has announced what it says are the 40 best magazine covers of the past 40 years. The Annie Liebovitz photo of a naked John Lennon wrapped around Yoko Ono -- taken just hours before his death -- won the top prize.
But it's No. 7 on the list -- the "If you don't buy this magazine, we'll kill this dog" cover from National Lampoon in 1973 -- that is my personal favorite. That issue swept the halls of my high school like nothing I had ever seen. Within minutes we had all seen it. And within hours we had all adopted the poses of world-weary cynics and intellectual humorists.
Check out the winners here, and read about the awards here.
As I perused the winning covers today, I found myself wondering -- why haven't I come across any blogs by magazine designers or art directors? Does anyone know of such a site? Lord knows there's a lot of great stuff being written about online design. But is anyone from the magazine world participating in the blogging discussion? If not, maybe one of the nominees for the Ozzie Awards could be convinced to start a blog.
For a look at what such a site could be, take a look at newsdesigner.com, a blog about newspaper design (thanks to Cyberjournalist for pointing me to the site.) Mark Friesen, a designer at The Oregonian, has created the exact sort of blog that I love -- a passionate and informative product aimed at a small niche. I'd love to see something similar for the magazine world -- ideally by someone who knows both print and online design for our industry.
Or how about a blog about magazine circulation? Is there anyone out there writing about inserts and opt-in lists and such?
If you know of such blogs -- or of others that may be of interest to the world of B2B media -- let me know.
Or, if you're considering starting one, drop me a line. I'll do all that I can to encourage you to join us in the blogosphere.
ADDENDUM 10/21/05:
Yesterday, I received two emails from readers noting that the link I had provided to the photos of the covers was broken.
At first I thought I had made an error. But when I checked my work, I realized that ASME had removed the page with the photos from its site.
I sent an email to ASME asking for an explanation.
What I got back was an email with links to two other sites that have the photos. One of those pages is hosted by a company called Doceus, which sells Web site "solutions" software for trade associations.
The other page is hosted by the Desert Sun newspaper.
No explanation was given for what happened to the ASME page. Nor was there an apology. Heck, there wasn't even a simple greeting in the email. No "hi," no "hello" no "Dear Sir," no nothing. I was disappointed by the entire experience, because I expect a better sense of public relations from a media association.
So I have no idea what ASME was thinking ... because ASME apparently didn't think it was worth telling me what it was thinking.
At any rate, I have changed the link in the original post so that it now points to the Doceus site.
tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines
Paul,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link! I know I'd sure love to read a blog about magazine design.
I wondered what ASME's deal was, too. I linked to it from coudal.com, and they got high-profile links from the NYT, CNN, boingboing, Gawker, etc., and promptly pulled the page so all you got was a 404 page. No redirect, no explanation, no nothing. Brilliant PR move.
We didn't go to college together, did we? I seem to remember a Paul Conley at Missouri in the mid-80s.
Hi Mark,
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by.
And you're more than welcome for the link. I really enjoyed your site.
We may very well have gone to school together.
I picked up a Master's at the grad school at Mizzou in the 80s. There was also a Dan Conley (no relation) there at the same time.
Paul
Yeah, I think we were there at the same time. Now that you mention it, I do remember Dan, and I seem to recall another Conley as well. But it's all very fuzzy ...
ReplyDeleteSmall world!