Yes, You Are Judged by Your Cover

Presenters: Matt Jennings, Middlebury Magazine, Middlebury College; Jason Treat, Art Director, The Atlantic

Conversations about magazine covers. Great follow-up to the keynote from Wired creative director Scott Dadich.

Lesson #1: Every magazine editor thinks other editors get to do whatever they want! But really, every publication has limitations.

You can’t assume that just because you’re the magazine of someone’s alma mater, they’re going to give it even a second of attention. As Tina Hay says, readers are fundamentally disinclined to care about what’s in your magazine. You have to MAKE them care.

If you have an administrator who is nervous about provocative content, ask  “Well what makes YOU open a magazine?”

Your readers were challenged and provoked and surprised in the classroom and during their time at your institution, so shouldn’t your magazine do the same thing?

Matt Jennings tip: Offer a truly ridiculous idea first (Hey, why don't we get this couple to reenact that John and Yoko cover!) and then your real idea won’t sound so scary.

A good cover should:
-Surprise
-Provoke
-Pique

We remember and talk about provocative magazine covers decades later (Think Esquire cover with Mohammed Ali pierced by arrows)

National Magazine Award Nominations

The American Society of Magazine Editors announced the finalists for the 2009 National magazine Awards--and a few of the folks who will be speaking at the Editors' Forum were singled out for attention.

Gerry Marzorati, the editor-in-chief of the New York Times Magazine, is a finalist in a number of categories, including Reporting (for a story written by Dexter Filkins), profile writing (for a story written by Mark leibovich), Photography (for three issues of T, The New York Times Style Magazine), and Photojournalism (two entries by photographer Sara Corbett).

Wired Creative Director Scott Dadich has a nomination in the Design category.

And both The Atlantic, with Jason Treat as art director, and Wired are finalists in the General Excellence category. Fortunately, they are competing in different circ categories so we don't need to worry about any fisticuffs breaking out between Scott and Jason.

If you're interested, check out the complete list of NMA finalists.

So don't be shy around Jason, Scott, or Gerry--congratulate them on these terrific achievements!