You would think that a fairly prominent graphic design magazine would try its hardest to be original and not imitate other designs in general. It is even more surprising when one design magazine copies another. The Print Magazine cover on the left is the 1999 European Design Annual. Considering their unique approach and use of symbolism, I thought it was a well-designed cover.

The spread and enlarged detail on the right are from the September issue of Graphic Design USA. If you can’t tell at this low resolution, both magazines converted the overused Mona Lisa into a close up of halftone color separations. I do not hold GD USA to very high standards, but this seems too hard to miss. I find it surprising that no one on staff at GD USA had seen this issue of Print. I wonder if Steven Heller will point this out in Print’s column Separated at Birth.