On integration and becoming
Big Ben, a triumph in real life and fiction. Above, a still from Peter Pan (c) 1953.
My teenage dream was working for Vibe’s photo department. I reached that dream in my early twenties. Among the steps to get there, things like pulling all-nighters in the darkroom and deconstructing design briefs live sweetly in memory. But it’s the early-career grind I’ve carried into the present.
Among those steps, I remember exiting the Time-Life Building one July summer night. I had stayed past midnight, scanning art, to meet a deadline. And on a different night, this time winter, I emptied out onto the Avenue of the Americas sidewalk. The buildings nearby were dark, save a few squares of light. It was janitor hour.
I was green and slow in those days, but was lucky to be shown some ropes. Folks like Jeff and Rhiannon took time to show me things like flight checks and typesetting.
I went on to design back covers at Simon & Schuster and kept building credits. Then one day, the photo department at Vibe called back.
As it turned out, Vibe was a vector, pointing in a direction, but not the true mark. Sometimes it takes years of becoming to know that mark for yourself.
Back to that Avenue, though. It’s great to feel alive, even when you know little and own even less. This Peter Pan still hits me the same way. A metropolis curving down, immense and glowing. The Big Ben and ether of it all.
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So what’s the brief?
This project happened in 2020, during the summer of George Floyd. I was staying in Atlanta. Protests were erupting daily. I had no peace. It was hard to concentrate.
Meanwhile, a writing-producing team was pitching a series to a network. With the pandemic shutting down production, they didn’t have a way of filming a proof of concept. So they threw extra resources and weight behind a series bible.
I was hired to give their IP form: to art direct and design the bible. This had to be a sizzle reel by pages, a look book, and bible omnibus. It also had to carry mid-century aesthetics.
I conducted copious art and image research; revised and iterated; and built out 77+ pages of custom-made editorial design under a tight deadline. My teammates understood television, but not the lead time needed to construct a magazine equivalent. After I submitted a near-complete layout, Disney’s development executives overhauled their pitch criteria. The producing team frantically rewrote their pitch; I was asked to reset copy at the eleventh hour. Had I not toiled in the Time-Life and Avenue of the Americas Buildings all those years ago, I could’ve died.
I listened to Kanye’s Sunday Service until sunrise that last day. It kept me calm. In solidarity, the West Coast producing team stayed up with me, cheering me on by email and text.
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Time’s done its laundry. Let’s talk A/B testing.
A/B Testing Lesson No. 1:
What you love won’t always make it.
One of the early editorial wells I designed and liked. This didn’t pass the A/B test. Click to expand.
A/B testing, stated simply, is, “should we do this, or should we do that? Should we offer this, or should we offer that? A or B?” You draw up options, then test for audience preferences before going to market. This methodology is super important when persuasion’s involved. I’d argue it’s the single most important step in UX.
This step requires time, and time being money, often goes unbudgeted. This is unfortunate. Testing can make the difference between adoption and failure.
Some businesses rationalize, “I create my products or services based on my concept of the world, and that’s enough.” That’s potentially great if you’re an artist, but flawed for a business. We earn our bread by adding value to others’ lives. If you give consumers a shot at weighing in, you increase your own at staying power.
Invite feedback warmly and often, then listen. See what’s working or even outperforming. Empowering your audiences, you empower yourself.
A/B Testing Lesson No. 2:
Broadly speaking, there are two camps: minimalists and maximalists. Either less is more, or more is more.
This cover made the final.
But it was an afterthought. I spent two hours on it during the final stretch. My initial direction, comprised of lo-fi sketches, got rejected, so I suggested others. This won out, mostly due to time constraints. The design is a copy-paste of an existing mid-century book cover.
I’m at my personal best as a minimalist. I love the autonomy and discipline of saying “no.” The resulting self-affirmation and space shore me up from feeling depleted. That said, we’re all wired differently. Some people abhor a vacuum, empty space, or time alone. They live for the excitement of experiencing, filling up time, and having more.
There’s at least one good about this “more is more” cover. More circles meant more options for key art and fuller representation. I researched and included more images of women and people of color. I requested and included images of inventors and technological breakthroughs.
Mid-century art has lots of geometry and prefab shapes. Circles were prominent in my original layouts. During A/B testing, I was asked to eliminate them and lean toward angularity. They make a useful cameo here.
A/B Testing Lesson No. 3:
Insist on legibility over style.
Above left, an example of a final feature well. Above right, a purely typographic spread. Both passed the A/B test. Click to expand.
It took me a while to figure out the grid. I settled on a two column format for most pages, and a wide one column for the episode splash pages. I also came up with the idea of background wallpaper. Mid-century art is subject and object oriented: motif and illustration based. How could I make these recede into the background? Despite the expectations for the bible’s visuals, the north star was the text. I didn’t relinquish that. I tend to favor clean versus busy, but clean can be made playful, too.
The wallpaper idea is easier to see in these iterations, none of which passed the A/B test. I played with font, shape, and color variations, in hopes of emphasizing legibility. Legibility of course matters more than style. My personal wish for most creations are for them to go Strunk & White all the way, no matter the medium.
I wasn’t previously familiar with mid-century style. Because of that, relying on A/B testing mattered even more. In some ways, it’s about letting someone else’s preferences win over yours.
A/B Testing Lesson No. 4:
Whether minor or major, go for harmony.
Above, mid-century font research for headlines and body text. Below, two of my favorite images during the research and editing phase. Louis Armstrong in Disneyland, and MM as apprentice. Both images were created in the mid-century. Click on any to expand.