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Get Distracted With a Chance to Win AIGA Eye on Design Issue #05
The latest issue of the AIGA Eye on Design magazine is out and available. Issue #05, titled Distraction, explores how today’s non-stop influx of information is shaping our thoughts and habits, and digs into the idea of distraction as a form of escapism and a necessary element in any creative process.
We asked the Eye On Design team to share an inside look at the design thinking behind the issue.
This issue explores the idea of distraction; can you elaborate on how distraction can be a necessary element in any creative process?
It’s a good question because that was really how we were thinking about the theme of ‘distraction.’ That distraction is not always a negative thing. Distraction can be good, a way of signaling to your brain to take a break. If you think of using your brain as a muscle, well, you can’t have it doing continuous reps. It needs a rest period. Loosening your thinking, or following a loose thread or a tangent, may not feel particularly productive, but it often results in some of the best ideas.
How was the idea of "distraction" incorporated into the issue’s design?
An important part of our publishing model is that we ask a different designer or design team to create each issue. These designers then redesign the entire magazine cover to cover. For the ‘Distraction’ issue we worked with the wildly talented Ann Richter and Pia Christmann of Studio Pandan. This duo immediately started dreaming up big, loud, crazy, excessive layouts, using up every square inch of the page.
They wanted information overload: fragments of articles interrupting each other, visuals competing for the readers’ attention, and blinding colors. We loved the idea and let them run with it, setting only the parameters that the content be legible. They did an amazing job of designing a genius system that allows you to focus on the content while at other times keeping your attention at bay.
An example is how they designed a series of pop-ups that advertise articles on other pages, to try to divert your attention from the article you’re reading. They also created pull quotes that elbow their way into the text, blew up the page numbers super large, and color-coded the gutters. They also designed static, full-bleed ‘screensavers’ that provide a visual break between articles. And, for the cherry on top, they added a fifth spot color—a glimmering silver—that gave the issue an eye-catching glint.
Neenah’s ASTROBRIGHTS, Pulsar Pink and Lift-Off Lemon were specified for this issue. How did these papers complement the issue's design and topic?
We fell in love with the ASTROBRIGHTS papers as soon as we saw them. Pulsar Pink and Lift-Off Lemon were perfect for this issue because they are so bold and vibrant, and they made the silver ink really pop. We also knew it would make us stand out on magazine shop shelves.
Tell us about some of your favorite things in this issue?
The cover element, that dual die cut that forms the shape of an eye, is one of the few design elements that stays the same across all Eye on Design issues, so when you open the front cover, then turn the first page, more of the inside eye reveals itself.
For this issue, the pupil you see peeking through the cover opens up to reveal a full-spread wimmelbilderbuch, which is a German term for the kinds of large-format illustrations that are teeming with so many people and objects that the harder you look the more you find. Think Where’s Waldo? or a Hieronymus Bosch painting. In this particular one you can find our contributors, our interview subjects, and little clues for the topics we discuss if you know where to look.
We also have a long-form interview with multimedia artist Jamie Levy, who in the 1990's started publishing her own interactive floppy discs before becoming one of the more famous web designers in the early days of personal computers.
We have an essay-length ode to Flair magazine, the brainchild of legendary editor Fleur Cowles in the 1950's. Writer Rachel Syme rightly calls it her “crown jewel, the project that would serve as a shorthand for her maximalist, sumptuous world view.”
Win your own copy of Distraction and share one with a friend by visiting us on Instagram @NeenahPaper on October 31st.
