The Executive Creative Director of Harvard Business Review (HBR), John Korpics, shared the story behind the design of the cover for the July/August 2023 issue of Harvard Business Review.
Here’s how John described it:
Welcome to the new cover of HBR. Our story about Gen AI and creativity. Rule number 1. Don't use AI for the AI cover! C'Mon! How about a classic roman sculpture with some element of sparkly things, like the fairy godmothers wand in Cinderella. Next! Found a good bust photo at the MET website, flopped it (back to that in a minute), and then photo editor Sasha Patkin added some stock spirograph lines and color. TIGHT. BUT... the MET said we couldn't flop it. I can put swirly lines all over it, but I can't flop it. NOPE. So... Sasha back to the internet, finds a new, even better bust, and then we send it to artist extraordinaire Brian Stauffer who puts our swirly lines to shame with an amazing layer of design magic. BOOM. The cover is born. Pop the champagne.
Art directing and designing magazine covers never gets old. They may not all be home runs, but they are few and far between these days, and I'm grateful to still be able to do them.
Read the post here.