On the Cover

This week, we pitted five designers, ad agencies, and design firms against each other in a competition to create our cover. The entrants: former Kate Spade design director Alan Dye, the Wieden+Kennedy ad agency (Nike, Nokia, ESPN), designer Carin Goldberg (whose work includes those ubiquitous Vonnegut paperback covers), branding firm Wolff Olins (which ran the New Museum’s launch campaign), and motion-graphics outfit Gretel (which works for MTV, among many others). The competitors submitted a total of 25 concepts between them. Says New York design director Chris Dixon, “Everyone did such amazing work that in the end we wimped out and picked two”—one for subscribers and one for newsstands. Both of the winners, and several of the worthy runners-up, are presented here.

Carin Goldberg
(newsstand edition)

Gretel
(subscriber edition)

Gretel

Wieden+Kennedy New York
Executive Creative Directors: Todd Waterbury and Kevin Proudfoot
Art Director: Gary Van Dzura

Wieden+Kennedy New York
Executive Creative Directors: Todd Waterbury and Kevin Proudfoot
Art Director:Ting Ting Lee

Wieden+Kennedy New York
Executive Creative Directors: Todd Waterbury and Kevin Proudfoot
Art Director: Gary Van Dzura

Wieden+Kennedy New York
Executive Creative Directors: Todd Waterbury and Kevin Proudfoot
Art Director: Eric Stevens

Alan Dye

Wolff Olins
Mike Benson, Christian Butte, Jenny Eggers, and Tiziana Haug
Actual message on that phone number’s voice-mail:
“Hi, I’m either on the other line or riding a roller coaster, eating ribs, getting custom window treatments, planning a blind date, waxing my armpits, learning Chinese, or replacing my furniture. While you’re waiting for a call back, you might want to try some stuff on the ‘Best of New York’ list, too.”

On the Cover