BADG (Bennett): I’m sure you get fairly harsh criticism at times from letters to the editor. After viewing some of the design blog’s critiques of STEP covers and the STEP Off, which would you say is more harsh? Blog comments or letters to the editor?

EP: It’s easier for people to comment on a blog—it’s an instant reaction to something they’ve seen, so it probably is a little more harsh, whereas letters to the editor are generally more thought out. Plus, there’s an immediate response from other people on a blog which I think is the desired result when someone posts something online.

BADG (Donovan): Did not knowing the designers attached to the different cover designs until after a selection was made make your process easier, or more difficult, especially when giving feedback in-between rounds?

EP: Probably easier because the critiques can’t be taken personally.

BADG (Nate): We had to deal with some pretty harsh online critiques, but nothing quite as harsh as you had to deal with after the final decision. You seemed to handle it very well, but were you expecting that kind of response from readers?

EP: Of course. I knew people would be critical no matter what design we chose, but we put ourselves out there so we were asking for it. They’re just letters. Everyone has an opinion and you’ll never please everyone.

MU: Yes, but I’m used to it. In the end it’s not about how pretty the cover was, it’s about how well it sold on the newsstand. Subscribers complain about a cover by sending letters, designers complain by blogging, newsstand buyers complain by not buying the magazine. I’ll do my mea culpa in six months if the newsstand numbers suck.

BADG (Donovan): I realize that you were unfamiliar with the work of the designers involved, and had us send portfolios before agreeing to us working on a cover design.

MU: The portfolio request was for my benefit. I wanted some indication of what we were getting into.

BADG (Donovan): Did not seeing any magazine cover designs in the portfolios that were sent make the decision to do this more difficult?

EP: Having magazine design experience is certainly a plus, but not necessary so that didn’t factor into our decision.  

BADG (Donovan): The STEPOff was set up in a way to present you with four cover concepts from start to finish. Is it typical for you to see the cover designs at that early of a stage, and do you normally ask to see multiple concepts for the same cover?

EP: When we have worked with outside designers, they are given a brief and they come back to us with a single concept. In some cases we have rejected the first concept so they come back with a second. It depends on the experience level of the person/people we’re working with.

BADG (Paul): Are the majority of the covers designed for STEP created primarily through a virtual / on-line / by e-mail interaction with designers or do you ever work in person with the cover designers?

EP: The few times we’ve worked with outside designers, it’s been through phone conversations and seeing PDFs. We’ve never worked with any of them in person.

BADG (Donovan: The creative brief mentioned the articles in the issue, but allowed us to highlight any of them on the cover. Do you usually give this much freedom to your designers?

EP: Sort of. Most issues have a theme, which is the main selling point of the issue and we encourage the designers to follow that theme in their cover design and use the secondary articles as back up. Since I knew we would be working with four separate teams on this cover, I wanted to open up the theme past the Design 100 to encourage different designs/thought processes—I didn’t want everyone coming back with a design based on “100.”

BADG (Bennett): Blogs are at times presented as competition to print magazines. Is there room for both? Can they coexist or even benefit from each other?

EP: Of course. I don’t see blogs as competition. If anything, they complement print magazines. If there’s a discussion online about an article in a magazine, it more than likely drives people to the newsstand to see it for themselves. Plus, most print magazines now have an online component so they can drive readers back and forth—there may be something on the website that’s not in the magazine and vice versa. It’s like giving readers more for their money.

BADG (Paul): Do you view webblog publishing to be something that STEP would consider branching out into?

EP: We do publish content on our website. I think it’s a natural evolution to do both.

BADG (Bennett): We were trying something new with the STEP Off. With the aid of hindsight, what would have helped the process move a little more smoothly?

MU: An explicit plan up front. Such as—the first two rounds are for concepting, the third and fourth are for roughs, and the last two for tweaking a final cover. The teams [with a few exceptions] seemed to wander from concept to concept. It became a waste of creative energy to have the teams designing new concepts in the fourth and fifth round—hoping for a “grand slam”.

BADG (Paul): Would you participate in something like this again—i.e. an online critique / design process?

EP: Probably not.

BADG (Paul): Would you consider repeating the on-line critique/development experience with a single designer vs. several teams of designers?

EP: No.

BADG (Bennett): Do you feel the process of commenting during the STEP Off made you critique the covers a little more harshly or a little less than you do under normal circumstances?

EP: Since this is the first time we’ve done this I can’t answer this question. We normally do the covers in house or with a single outside designer of our choosing—someone who is featured in the issue whose style we like.

MU: Not for me—it’s my job.

BADG (Paul): Did you feel that your decision-making process was made easier or more difficult by having 4 distinctly different cover concepts running simultaneously in the critique / development rounds?

MU: It was more difficult because I always wanted to say more. Nobody [except the team members] wants to read six paragraphs of critique—times four.

BADG (Donovan): The entire cover from concept to finished design was done in a three-week cycle, with six rounds of revisions. After that, one more round of revisions (including writing the actual headlines and editing the cover copy) was made before it was sent to the printer within a week of being selected. Is this the usual timeline you work with?

EP: Nothing about this process was normal.

Editor’s Note: There truly was nothing about this process that was normal. We wouldn’t have it any other way. Through the ups and downs of the STEP Off we all gained a great deal from this experience. We again thank everyone that participated. I’m looking forward to seeing how the cover looks on the newsstand.