Tom judges Minnesota design contest
by Tom
A couple weeks ago I served as a judge for the 13th Annual Minnesota Publishing Excellence Awards, which are awarded each year by the Minnesota Magazine and Publications Association (MMPA).
I co-judged the media kit category earlier in September, and served with a few other local designers to judge some of the cover design divisions on the 17th. The entries were all from Minnesota publications (obviously) and showed quite a range of subject matter and execution. I have done quite a bit of judging over the years, yet I am always surprised by how long certain trends remain common in cover and layout design (for better or worse). In particular, as much as “clean” layouts are praised and rewarded in top-tier design competitions, many of the covers and spreads we reviewed were quite dense. Often, it was probably the result of poorly edited copy placed in a cramped layout. It would have been nice to see more cooperation between designer and writer. (That’s a good idea for another blog post.)