Underground Newspapers: The Chicago Seed. Part 1 (1967-69)

The Chicago Seed was an underground newspaper that published from 1967-74. For most of its existence The Seed was published bi-weekly. Visually, The Seed was one of the most consistently powerful and sophisticated of the underground papers, due in large part to the work of longtime art director Lester Dore. The first couple years of the […]

Covers of The Stranger Art Directed by Tracie Louck

Tracie Louck is art director of The Stranger, which describes itself as “Seattle’s Only Newspaper.” Formerly published weekly, in late September The Stranger shifted to a biweekly schedule. Louck has been at The Stranger since June 2016; she previously was art director of another altweekly, Dallas Observer. The Stranger has a long history of graphic […]

My Favorite Magazine Cover of 2017

[I was asked to be part of a group of magazine art directors who selected their favorite cover of the year for Foliomag.com’s annual cover roundup. Here’s my favorite cover and commentary.] This GQ cover of civil rights activist and professional athlete Colin Kaepernick was easily my magazine cover of the year. It’s a perfect […]

Working at The Village Voice

[The publication of the last print edition of The Village Voice in September 2017 prompted this nostalgic look back at my experience working at the legendary weekly New York City newspaper. I served three stints at The Voice—as associate art director, 1986-88, art director, 1990, and design director, 1991-94. On August 31 the current Voice […]

The Village Voice: Apocalypse ’92

The L.A. Rebellion/Riot Cover That Could Have Been: I was working as design director at The Village Voice during the time of the L.A. Rebellion (or riots, depending on your point of view) in 1992. The editors began working on an intense package of coverage and analysis before the weekend, and I was told to […]

Black History Newspaper: The Black Panther

The Black Panther was a weekly newspaper published by the Black Panther Party from 1967-80. Art directed by Revolutionary Artist and Minister of Culture Emory Douglas, The Black Panther covers were a combination of Douglas’s own powerful illustration, collage, high-contrast photographs, and poster-like graphics. Bold and provocative, each cover was an incendiary call to action […]

Black History Magazines: Jet, 1950s

Jet magazine was founded in 1951 by John Johnson of the Johnson Publishing Company. Published in Chicago, its tagline was “The Weekly Negro News Magazine.” It printed in a small, digest-sized format with covers that featured black and white photographs and a single spot color. Art director Herbert Temple made the most of the limited […]

Covers of The Village Voice Art Directed by Andrew Horton

Over the past year, creative director Andrew Horton has been directing the visual rebirth of The Village Voice, New York City’s dynamic (and legendary) altweekly newspaper. In addition to giving the insides a complete makeover, Horton brought in a brilliant and eclectic batch of illustrators who continued and expanded the paper’s graphic legacy. Under Horton’s […]

The Baddest Covers of All Time: The Black Panther Newspaper

The Black Panther was a weekly newspaper published by the Black Panther Party from 1967-80. Art directed by Revolutionary Artist and Minister of Culture Emory Douglas, The Black Panther covers were a combination of Douglas’s own powerful illustration, collage, high-contrast photographs, and poster-like graphics. Bold and provocative, each cover was an incendiary call to action […]