My First Magazine Love: Ramparts

[This interview originally appeared as part of the Society of Publication Designers “First Love,”  series, “where creatives tell SPD the first magazine they fell in love with.”] Robert Newman: Ramparts was the first magazine I ever bought that wasn’t Mad, Creepy, or a comic book. Almost 50 years later, I still have that issue and I still draw on […]

Face Up: Favorite Magazine Covers of 2018 (So Far)

Foliomag.com asked seven magazine art directors for their picks for the best magazine covers of the past six months. Here’s mine: Essence March, 2018 Creative Director: Ronda Thompson Issue Editor: Vanessa DeLucca  My favorite cover this year (at least so far) was the Essence March 2018 split-run newsstand edition in advance of the Black Panther movie (Essence did a […]

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 […]

: Alberta Magazine Awards 2018, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

I’m judging the magazine design category for the 2018 Alberta Magazine Awards. These awards honor the best magazines from Alberta and Western Canada. There’s a vibrant publishing scene in Alberta, including some outstanding indie magazines. More information on the Alberta Magazine Awards and a look at some of the magazines here.

The 2017 Newmanology Holiday Book Gift Guide

Welcome to the Fourth Annual Newmanology Holiday Book Gift Guide. Here’s our collection of 10 favorite books released this past year. They are all strong visual and creative collections, featuring design, imagery, and writing that highlights artwork, magazine design, illustration, typography, and more. This collection is highly subjective; on a recent trip with my daughter […]

Graphic Design by Jesse Marinoff Reyes

Here are four publication layouts featuring the magic design and artwork of Jesse Marinoff Reyes. The Rock & Roll Quarterly cover was created in the early 1990s when I was design director at The Village Voice. The issue’s main feature was about Mexican rock bands, and we came up with the idea to make the […]

Black History Magazines: The Crisis

The Crisis was founded in 1910 by W.E.B. DuBois as the official publication of the NAACP. Within nine years it reached a circulation of 100,000. It was an important venue in its early days for African American authors, including Jean Toomer, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Jessie Fauset. It also included powerful graphic covers by […]

Black History Magazines: Ebony Jr!

Ebony Jr! was founded in 1973 by the publishers of Ebony and Jet as a magazine for African-American kids. The executive art director was Herbert Temple; art directors were Cecil L. Ferguson and Norman L. Hunter. Many of the covers featured striking illustrations; later editions featured celebrities, including O.J. Simpson, Gary Coleman, and Bill Cosby. […]