1984: Pop Music’s Best Year Ever, from Billboard Magazine

Having spent many years working at Entertainment Weekly, New York, Vibe, and Details, I’ve been involved in creating more magazine editorial “packages” than I care to remember. Designing those multi-page, late-closing projects is always a challenge, especially because they tend to be way over-subscribed with content and images. I’m very happy to see this striking […]

Cover Review: Billboard

My new cover review for the Folio: online Face Up column takes a look at the April 26, 2014 issue of Billboard. The cover features a cool photograph of singer Enrique Iglesias, sleek, minimal cover typography and a bold, poster-like logo; it’s highly original, extremely artful and a crowd-pleaser all at the same time (I […]

My Top 12 Favo(u)rite Magazine Covers of 2013

Because of my accident last year I was out of commission for most of 2013. So I missed experiencing the year’s magazines covers as they were published. I was lucky to have the resources of Coverjunkie and NASCAPAS to review the year, but of course your responses are always different (at least mine are) when […]

The Business of Music: Billboard Magazine Covers

The past year saw an impressive set of covers from weekly trade magazines, including AdWeek, Advertising Age, The Hollywood Reporter, and especially Billboard, under the direction of creative director Andrew Horton. This week the Billboard ownership announced a change in leadership and editorial direction which signals a revamp of the magazine’s content, design, and visuals. […]