L.A. Times Creative Director Joe Hutchinson will become the art director of Rolling Stone, L.A. Observed and the SND blog are reporting. The New York Post said last month that Hutchinson turned the job down, but he’s reported to have reconsidered in the face of news that the Times will cut its workforce by 5 percent (150 positions, 70 of those from the newsroom), mostly through buyouts.

DJ Stout, who was art director of Texas Monthly from 1987 to 1999, writes in Design Observer about how the famous 1992 Ann Richards cover came together.

The governor’s aide told me that Ann loved the motorcycle idea and she had suggested that we just “fake” the shot again. I was off to the races. We found the perfect white Harley and I hired commercial photographer Jim Myers to shoot the picture in his Dallas studio. I contacted a fashion designer in Smithville, who specialized in leather apparel, to make a customized leather motorcycle outfit, complete with leather fringe of course. Then we hired the same body double that we had used for the “Dirty Dancing” cover to pose as Anne’s body again. For many years after that issue of Texas Monthly was published, I would run into Ann Richards at my favorite Mexican food lunch spot in downtown Austin and she would always thank me for giving her such a “sexy body.” It had become an icon and a symbol over time of Ann’s character and her amazing legacy, even though it wasn’t a real photo of her. Years later, on Texas Monthly’s 30th anniversary, the readers of the magazine selected that cover of Ann on the Harley as the most memorable and beloved of all the covers that had been created throughout the magazine’s existence.

>DJ Stout: Remembering Ann Richards [Design Observer]

Last Sunday The Los Angeles Times debuted West magazine, which replaces The Los Angeles Times Magazine. LAT news design director Michael Whitley was kind enough to send along some pages and this Q&A with Times Creative Director Joseph Hutchinson, who designed the magazine.

It is not a redesign, it's a complete rethinking and reinvention of the magazine. The name West was chosen because it is a historic name at the Times - it was the magazine title in the late 1960s and early 1970s - and better reflected the editorial mission of the new publication.

Joe used Font Bureau fonts. Zocalo for headlines, Antenna for labels, captions, etc., and a new face for the body text named Kis Light. He completed the work in about six weeks.

Q. How did the design of the magazine evolve?

It was important to me that the design be unique and reflective of the editorial mission. Rick (Wartzman, the West editor) wanted a magazine with personality, a magazine with a unique voice, and most importantly a magazine that is rooted in California.

The editorial content was the inspiration for the design. I wanted a design that has a voice, a personality that is unique but could also have as much range as the stories we are telling. Like the features themselves, the design is a mix; it can be bold, it can be elegant, but it is always sophisticated. It is crisp but has a sense of flair.

Q. What is different about the use of photography and illustration in the new look?

The previous magazine was text heavy and would fit photographs in around the type. So at times they tended to be small with full pages of type on all sides. Our readers told us they love photography, so we are trying to use photographs to capture the imagination of the reader that picks up West. It is, after all, a magazine so the reproduction is much better. We want to take advantage of the printing quality to improve what we do with photos and illustrations, to do things you cannot do in a newspaper. It's one of the things that makes West different than the daily broadsheet.

Q. It seems like you're using a few pictures really well rather than just running everything you get.

We're editing the photographs very aggressively. That is on purpose. But we're still going to do photo essays. We are going to do unique fashion photography. We're running gallery photography. So it is quite different from what we've done in the past.

Along those lines, we want to work with the best photographers, and illustrators, in the world. The first issue included work by Damon Winter (LAT staff photographer), Annie Leibovitz, Kurt Iswarienko, Gary Kelley, Owen Smith, David Plunkert, Edel Rodriguez and Philip Burke to name a few. The design is built on the use of really beautiful and engaging visuals. We won't have to do a lot of tricks with the type because the visuals and the story content are so strong.

Q. The typography is all new....

It is all new. The type is elegant and sophisticated like the Los Angeles Times, but at the same time different than the Times - like a cool younger cousin. The fonts are a little edgy but still sophisticated. They have interesting details. They give the magazine its own personality. But it still feels like it should be a part of the paper.

The typography in the previous magazine was quiet - almost apologetic - for the great content. We felt like the volume needed to be turned up. We wanted the type to be confident. We're elevating the content of the magazine, and we wanted fonts that reflect that.

Q. Any other thoughts?

Above everything else, I wanted the magazine to be easy to read. Everything about the design comes down to engaging the reader. It was important to pace the content. So as you flip through it is very organized, but there are some surprises. I think that is what will keep people coming back to it week after week, they know what to expect but will still find that surprise.

More pages after the jump.

The Los Angeles Times is launching West Magazine, the replacement for the Sunday Los Angeles Times Magazine, on Feb. 5. Some design details:

The full-color weekly will feature a new typography created exclusively for West and a bold, crisp and clean look — designed by Los Angeles Times Creative Director Joseph Hutchinson — that will significantly improve content flow and pacing. The magazine's distinctive page layout will dramatically showcase eye-catching photography by Los Angeles Times and freelance photographers and illustrations by some of the best artists in the industry.

For the cover of West magazine, artist Jim Parkinson, who designed the nameplates for Esquire and Rolling Stone magazines, has created a new, modern nameplate similar to one of the versions used for the original West magazine.

Whoops!

>Cover stories [Boston Globe via Romenesko]

The Economist's art department is having a bit of fun these days.

From the "One Question" feature at I Want Media:

Q: Publishers in several markets, including New York, are launching free newspapers in hopes of attracting younger readers. Maxim is a success at attracting the male half of that hard-to-reach demo. What advice would you give newspaper publishers on how to appeal to younger audiences?
A: "Newspapers could certainly learn a lot from magazines in terms of presentation. Look at what USA Today was able to do with a splash of color, a simplified structure and a fistful of entertaining graphics. The dailies have always worn their stark ugliness like a badge of honor, but their "credibility exemption" is running out. When newspapers were the first source for news they could afford to disregard their appearance. But now I get the news from CNN and the Internet. I no longer need newspapers ... so they've got to make me want them. A free newspaper targeted at a young, media-savvy demographic, if it is clever, should be able to compete favorably. But it's got to start with a modern, eye-catching design. We're no longer compelled by the gravitas of newspaper news. We've got to be seduced."
- Keith Blanchard, editor in chief, Maxim

So, does this mean I'm a "seducer?" Cool! Can I put that on my business card?

>One Question [I Want Media]

In a big "how-to" feature in this month's Glamour Magazine (no link, and please don't ask how I know this) right below "How to Look Thinner Instantly," we find:

HOW TO READ THE PAPER IN 10 MINUTES:

Read each page-one article up to the "jump line" (the line that directs you to another page for the rest of the story.) Editors front-load the important details so they fit on page one.
Skim headlines in the rest of the paper then absorb the first paragraph and read the last sentence of each piece. You'll get the story without trudging through every word.

From all of us who labor to keep the democracy's populace informed, I'd like to send out a big middle finger salute to the fine folks at Conde Nast! But especially on behalf of those who work at one of the 22 Newhouse newspapers. Heard of them, Glamourpusses? That would be those extremely profitable publications that keep your anorexic, money-losing asses in Dolce & Gabbana. So spare a little compassion for the plodding Cratchits below you. And remember, when disposing of your underling's body parts at 4 Times Square, please use the designated receptacles. We wish you luck with a capital F!

>Glamour
>CondéNet
>Newhouse newspapers [Newhousenews.com]
>Conde Nast Rumors [Gawker]

Side Salad, our fellow congregant in Spy worship, notes that Gawker notes that the New York Observer notes that

Kurt Andersen and (E.) Graydon Carter, the co-founders of SPY magazine, are thinking of putting together a book anthology of pieces from old issues. Progress, however, appears to be slow. Andersen: "Thus far, it's been a couple of codgers looking back on our youth. It's more like 'Hey, wasn't that great?' and 'Yeah, that was really great!'" (Which is exactly what the entire industry has been doing for the last year or so. "Hey, wasn't SPY great? Yeah, SPY was really great! Let's do another one! No, we can't. They went out of business. Clearly there's no demand. But wasn't SPY great? Yeah, SPY was really great!")

While you, the faithful, are waiting, don't miss the excellent Ten Years Ago in Spy site, from Joe Clark, the self-described reigning Spy obsessif online. Much talk of the mag's art direction, typography, etc.

>Ten Years Ago in Spy [fawny.org]
>Spy vs. Spy [Side Salad]
>SPY, SPY, SPYYYYYYY [Gawker]
>Moss tossed up, gets vast turf in Keller move [New York Observer]

Jason McKean, a 25-year-old art director at the Chicago Tribune, has a few words about the "new" Playboy magazine facelift. He is not impressed.

Together these efforts feel like a half-hearted attempt to appeal to a younger generation and reek of Old Man Poser. A sidebar "on hiphop shoutouts to Playboy" says Hefner "gets more props than a helicopter pad."

Who's writing this stuff? My dad?

Of course, nudity still abounds. But Playboy continues to shoot its models as though it's 1980 and everyone's auditioning for an all-nude episode of "Dallas." Soft light, diamonds and gold had their time. I'm certain it has passed. The stories and features also carry a look that has come and gone. The typefaces, packaging techniques and color schemes are all dated.

It's a 160-page mess. Playboy's half stuck in the last century, while trying get some footing in this one. It's a hodgepodge of information and ideas that lacks unity in voice, reason or, perhaps most important, intrigue.

>An uneasy alliance in revised Playboy [Chicago Tribune, registration required]