Cover Trail

How the cover gets made

① “The cover is our fourth annual Design Issue.”

“We can shoot someone younglooking with chunky rimmed glasses hunched over a drafting table, and there’s a lightbulb over his head with rainbows shooting from the table. This would beautifully and succinctly communicate the concepts of hard work, ideas, and creativity.”

“Speaking of ideas, that’s probably the worst I’ve ever heard. Think about it this way: What is the fundamental job of a designer?”

“Solving problems.”

“And what problems would you like to see solved?”

“In the entire world?”

“Let’s narrow it down. What problems would you like to see solved within yourself?”

“Insecurity, pessimism, fatigue, loneliness, extreme physical weakness, depression, anxiety, overeating, paranoia, forgetfulness, chronic knee pain, sugar addiction, joylessness, crippling fear of irrelevance, hypochondria, low IQ, oily skin, inability to grow hair where there should normally be hair on a grown man, clumsiness, obsessive compulsiveness, constipation, narcissism, aulophobia, boredom, vacuousness, lack of empathy, body dysmorphia, ineloquence, poor table manners, difficulty hearing, Netflix binge watching, sexual inadequacy, overactive bladder, emotional dependence, shortness of breath after walking up a short flight of stairs, envy, insomnia, bad posture, inner rage, shyness, ADD, crying during every episode of CBS Sunday Morning, apathy, impostor syndrome.”

“Let’s focus on a few that some of the designers in this issue might be able to tackle.”