RESPONSE #4

This week in class we had a project about the historical development of a magazine of our choice. I chose Esquire from 1964-1968 while it was under the art direction of Samuel Antupit. From everything I read, he was responsible for reviving the magazine and basically preventing what would have been an extremely unfortunate (and premature) demise. What I found to be most interesting, and what I will talk about in my presentation, is how easy it is to take layout design for granted. Antupit really thought about the page and how best to display the information to the reader. He was especially creative with his photography and used a lot of horizontal spreads to engage the reader. Before he came along, Esquire's "design" was being done by the editor Harold Hayes and left something to be desired. Seldom was there an image to bring a story to life. For the most part, the only illustrations were random cartoons interspersed throughout, none of which had much to do with the story they interrupted. The only play with type was a differentiation in size and placement on the page. When Antupit came in everything changed. His vision brought the magazine into a modern era.