Eye #96
Our latest page 23 come from the first of two special issues of Eye magazine dedicated to magazine design.
The entire feature well is given over to mag-related stories, starting with a lengthy interview with Gail Bichler, design director at the New York Times Magazine. And page 23 carries this smart portrait of her by Damon Winter.
It’s the perfect start to the issue; Gail leads the best magazine design studio currently practising, producing the weekly magazine as well as contributing to various digital projects and developing increasing numbers of additional supplements and sections. The interview, by Sarah Snaith and one of the magazine’s Reputations series, covers 24 pages and contains a mass of covers and spreads from the magazine.
It’s a must-read piece for anyone interested in current editorial practice and the work presented clarifies how Gail and her team continue to win design awards around the world. I’ve had the pleasure to work with Gail on two of our ModMag events and she is always an impressive and engaging ambassador for her magazine and for editorial design in general.
Other stories in the special issue include an overview of Tom Wolsey’s work for Town magazine from the sixties; a look at Robert Priest and Grace Lee’s beautiful Eight by Eight football mag; and a clever collection of briefer pieces examining that examine the various parts that make up a magazine: features, the contents page, the colophon etc. The front cover illustration is Eye’s first commissioned cover art – a neat summation of a printed magazine’s tactile qualities by Jason Ford.
I’m already excited for the follow-up second magazine design special.
Editor: John L Walters
Art director: Simon Esterson