(2011-01-16) Lois Magazine Cover Creativity

Great interview with Advertising-legend GeorgeLois, best known for his Esquire Magazine covers. Lois wholly or partially created some of the most exceptional and memorable ads in history. For better or worse, behemoths of consumerism such as Tommy Hilfiger, Jiffy Lube, ESPN, MTV, and many others have ingrained themselves in American culture because of his indelible campaigns.

Then she (Annie Liebowitz) said, “I really couldn’t keep doing them because Jann Wenner [cofounder and publisher of Rolling Stone] wanted covers that all looked alike and had a similar style.” It was this whole idea of You shouldn’t look at a cover and think too much. I don’t know what the fuck she’s talking about. Everybody’s crazy. What’s a magazine about? At some point in the 70s everybody decided that magazine covers had to feature the face of the month, some fucking would-be star. Put 20 blurbs on it and the logo on top. You go to the newsstand and there are 30 or 40 magazines that all look the same. And there are people who defend it. Tina Brown [former editor of Vanity Fair and the New Yorker] once said to me, “You know, George, you can’t do those covers today. There are so many magazines out there.” And I replied, “What’s that mean? Tina, if you took any one of my covers today and went to the newsstand it would knock your eyeballs out! Everything looks the same!”

If you have to depend on blurbs to have people buy your magazine then you’ve got a piece of shit! You don’t have a brand! You don’t design a magazine for your audience; you create a great magazine for yourself.

You need a team for production, but a team for creating ideas? Get the fuck outta here! That’s impossible. It really is. (Creativity)