When Hugh Hefner launched Playboy Magazine, the inaugural issue had no date on the cover and no volume or issue number. Like a true publisher, he was not sure if or when there would be a second issue. When Milton Kaye started Graphic Design USA, my guess is that he, too, was skeptical about a second issue, much less the 500th.
As an historical aside, that first Playboy cover featured an evocative photograph of Marilyn Monroe, and it helped rocket Hef to a swinging lifestyle, Sinatra and the Rat Pack, and a famous mansion. We, in turn, spotlighted a new RCA logo and... well, the trajectory was a bit less steep.
But 500 issues later, here we stand: stronger, more securely positioned and, thanks to our creative director, better looking than ever. How did it happen, against all odds and when more balanced personalities might have considered other alternatives?
Having run a few marathons, one answer is perseverance. Monthly business magazine publishing is like a marathon. Ups and downs, rocky roads, surprising course changes, moments of sheer joy and unmitigated pain, the striving for grace, style and consistency under the scrutiny of critical eyes, the humbling nature of the distance, and the occasional need to just lie down and throw up on a street corner. The combination is a satisfying and intoxicating brew. Magazine publishing is also like a box of chocolates, or so my mama once said, but I am tired of analogies and will move on.
A better explanation for GDUSA’s longevity is that graphic design — art, discipline, profession, business, industry: pick your poison — has evolved into an exciting, expanding and enlightening marketplace. Bigger in size, richer in sum, faster in pace, more central in commerce and culture, higher in profile, master of print and display and motion and new media. The news is not all good; there are genuine threats to the value-proposition arising in our dumbed-down, sped-up and flattened-out world. And the field seems to attract more than its fair share of pomposity and preciousness. But on balance, you could not ask for a more fascinating, fun and influential community to grow up with.
While preparing this partly historical special issue, a review copy of Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, 4th Ed. (John Wiley & Sons), serendipitously arrived. In his preface to the first edition, Meggs crystallizes the compelling nature of the subject. He writes, “The immediacy and ephemeral nature of graphic design, combined with the social, political and economic life of its culture, enable it to more closely express the Zeitgeist of an epoch than many other forms of expression. Ivan Chermayeff, a noted designer, has said: the design of history is the history of design.”
The design of history is the history of design.
An aphorism for the ages, and the best possible reason to rededicate ourselves to the next 500 issues.
As an historical aside, that first Playboy cover featured an evocative photograph of Marilyn Monroe, and it helped rocket Hef to a swinging lifestyle, Sinatra and the Rat Pack, and a famous mansion. We, in turn, spotlighted a new RCA logo and... well, the trajectory was a bit less steep.
But 500 issues later, here we stand: stronger, more securely positioned and, thanks to our creative director, better looking than ever. How did it happen, against all odds and when more balanced personalities might have considered other alternatives?
Having run a few marathons, one answer is perseverance. Monthly business magazine publishing is like a marathon. Ups and downs, rocky roads, surprising course changes, moments of sheer joy and unmitigated pain, the striving for grace, style and consistency under the scrutiny of critical eyes, the humbling nature of the distance, and the occasional need to just lie down and throw up on a street corner. The combination is a satisfying and intoxicating brew. Magazine publishing is also like a box of chocolates, or so my mama once said, but I am tired of analogies and will move on.
A better explanation for GDUSA’s longevity is that graphic design — art, discipline, profession, business, industry: pick your poison — has evolved into an exciting, expanding and enlightening marketplace. Bigger in size, richer in sum, faster in pace, more central in commerce and culture, higher in profile, master of print and display and motion and new media. The news is not all good; there are genuine threats to the value-proposition arising in our dumbed-down, sped-up and flattened-out world. And the field seems to attract more than its fair share of pomposity and preciousness. But on balance, you could not ask for a more fascinating, fun and influential community to grow up with.
While preparing this partly historical special issue, a review copy of Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, 4th Ed. (John Wiley & Sons), serendipitously arrived. In his preface to the first edition, Meggs crystallizes the compelling nature of the subject. He writes, “The immediacy and ephemeral nature of graphic design, combined with the social, political and economic life of its culture, enable it to more closely express the Zeitgeist of an epoch than many other forms of expression. Ivan Chermayeff, a noted designer, has said: the design of history is the history of design.”
The design of history is the history of design.
An aphorism for the ages, and the best possible reason to rededicate ourselves to the next 500 issues.