This 2003 spread was designed by Fred Woodward, to promote the new movie Spiderman, starring Tobey Maguire. The article features Woodward’s signature style of positioning the headline across an image in such a way that forces the reader to read the headline in a certain way, while also at the same time observing all the details…
One of Fred Woodward’s most noteworthy spreads is a 1992 profile for Arnold Schwarzenegger. The spread features a photograph of Schwarzenegger sitting inside a giant inner tube on a beach, which Woodward used to make a typographic response by positioning the headline, which says “Mr. Big Shot,” around the photo in order to make the…
This 1993 cover of Rolling Stone magazine featuring a topless Janet Jackson, whose chest is covered only by the hands of her then-husband René Elizondo, is one of the more iconic covers. Elizondo is not actually pictured, only his hands, so as not to take away from the statement the image is making. The cover was…
The third portfolio piece I chose to showcase by Jan V. White is his publication, “Designing for magazines”. Published by R. R. Bowker Company in 1982, “Designing for magazines” presents the concept of editing-by-design and how it can be effective and successful in publications. White presents design solutions and approaches for front covers, back covers,…
Another aspect of design that was important to Jan V. White was color and the use of color in print. Back in the seventies and eighties when bright colors were all the rage, White published another book in 1996 on the impact of color, which he called, “Color For Impact”. Color For Impact explains color…
Les mots en liberté futuristes, F.T. Marinetti Experiencing old books in person is quite a transformative experience. I didn’t realize how much of an impact actually handling Les mots en liberté futuristes would have on my interpretation of it but it was truly crucial to my understanding of the book and…
In Judging a Book By Its Cover, I reviewed “Contemporary Furniture and Textiles” by Knoll Associates. I found this to be an interesting choice because as a design student interested in interiors, I am familiar with Knoll in the contemporary sense. Upon checking it out from special collections, my first inclination was that it was…
Lockhart’s Ancient Spanish Ballads: Historical and Romantic (published 1842) has many interesting and beautiful design features. The book is large and rather heavy, but not so heavy that it is difficult to handle. Its front cover is bound in dark green leather embossed with golden floral designs that frame the title, set in all caps…
For our assignment on “Judging a Book By Its Cover”, I chose Karel Marten’s “counterprint”, a collection of Martens’ independent and non-commissioned graphic design work. The book intially jumped out to me for its simplicity, its lack of adornment, and the seemingly transparent nature of the cover (seen above). At first glance, it’s hard to…
The Telephone Book: Technology, Schizophrenia and Electric Speech When I first saw the cover, I found it very interesting because the words “The Telephone Book” didn’t follow the standard pattern of writing. They are separated from each other in different sizes and shapes. When skimming through the pages, I noticed this pattern is all over…
The eye of a designer sees much more than most other people. Walking around the streets of New York City, a businessman might not look around and see all of the typefaces and signage that surrounds him. He probably wouldn’t notice that a majority of these posters, advertisements, and signs feature the font Helvetica. Helvetica…
Gloss Drop is a script typeface that resembles my expressive and passionate nature. Its unexpected rhythm and movement portrays my free spirit when I paint (or on the dance floor). I find this typeface to follow very few rules and additionally has my craving for creativity and freedom. Gloss Drop was designed by Roland Hörmann…