GQ class

Yes! Thank you GQ for printing three covers for your October issue. Usually less is more but in this case more is better. For this month GQ decided to cover Aniston's husband to be Justin Theroux, actor Idris Delba and singer/actor Jeff Bridges.

The photography is great, all three cover guys look really good. The classic sexy look is back and it feels amazing. The type is not too present, just enough so you know what's inside without ruining the pictures. I do have to mention the two rectangles with headlines are kind of a no no especially the one with the white outline… do people actually still think boxes with outlines are ok? Tried it without the box on the left and instead put it on the right, I feel like it's more balanced that way.

I love the fact that the logo is half black and half white, it really enhances the way the lighting works on each of the guy's portraits. Thank's GQ, for being classy and smooth this month and giving us the gift of a trio.

It's all about Vanity Fair France

I've been off the grid for a while and missed commenting on a lot of covers in the past months. BUT, I do have a good reason! Since october 2012 I have officially been working as part of the Art department team at Vanity Fair France with Yorgo Tloupas (Art Director) and Genève Doherty (Associate Art Director) on the design of Condé Nast's newest baby. After months of hard work, late nights, junk food and team work, the first ever issue of Vanity Fair France is finally available and we are all so excited!

Who else could have been worthier of our first cover other than Scarlett Johansson? A gorgeous woman with amazing talent. She opened the doors of her parisian life to our team.

This first issue is very dense and has a lot of fascinating articles and great photography. We were able to get talented illustrators (one of my favorite parts), as well as great photographers and writers. So for everyone out there who is not able to go grab their first issue, here is an exclusive sneak peek at what you are missing out on, time to go grab yours! (also available on iPad of course with lots of extra images, animations and interactive delights).

 

GQ U.S going playboy style?

Ok so I haven't posted in a while but it doesn't mean I haven't been paying attention...I don't know about you but I have been really disappointed with the covers GQ has been publishing lately. It seems instead of publishing a men's style magazine, they've gone trashy on us and have now started to take  playboy looking pictures. I am of course talking about 2 of their latest covers, Rihanna and Beyonce. Yes Beyonce is hot, yes Terry Richardson is a very good photographer and no, this right there, isn't working.

Now I was willing to overlook the Rihanna cover as I did see some good things about it. It was provocative yet not trashy. However I can't ttribute the same compliments to the Beyonce cover. The pictures are not GQ material, just a playboy or maxim shoot at best...(see below). I know they are trying to sell more paper but this is just not right. If you look at GQ france you can truly see a magazine with a strong identity, photography that says something. Even GQ U.K whose identity/graphic design may be all over the place is still stronger than GQ U.S. Am I wrong? you tell me.

GQ's Naked Rihanna

For their Man/woman of the year covers, GQ U.S has gone all in showing a naked and steamy Rihanna. Is it getting hot where you are too?

GQ woman of the year Rihanna definitely has nothing to envy other singers and I think this cover speaks for itself. First of all, I am loving the color combination used by GQ for this issue, its fresh and pops up nicely. It goes very well with the picture. I can't say much else type design wise because I am really not a fan of GQ US's covers. I find the typeface very blah and it doesn't do much for the magazine, there's no it factor. Everything is just there laying on top of each other boringly stacked and I think a magazine as big should be able to do better.

Now I won't lie, this picture is HOT, but there is something I find uneasy about Rihanna's face and pose. She looks a bit awkward and mannish. This also has to do with her boy's haircut (not a fan of that...am I wrong?). Her face looks chubbier than we've seen and the way that leather jacket is arranged on her shoulders is not ideal, that left sleeve is really bothering me, very stiff. All in all this is not my favorite picture of her though it has been making quite the buzz. Love the concept and I think they could have shot a way better picture. Her general pose is great but had those few details been altered this picture could have been amazing. Good point for GQ, it's good they have good buzz ideas because design wise they're not flying so high.

what do you think?

Obama is a GQ Man

That's right, for their November cover GQ France has president (and presidential candidate)
Barack Obama!

This issue is great and I'm not only talking design wise, but also content wise. I realize I don't talk about content in my articles but it also plays a big part in a cover. This is definitely an issue you want to pick up if you can read french. Those great articles are of course completed by great design. It fascinates me to observe how the same magazine ends up being so completely different from one country to another. The general design of GQ US is pretty nice but I don't love it the same way I do GQ France.

Anyways getting back to this awesome new issue, definitely a go getter! the article and layout on Obama is well worth your time trust me. I usually don't enjoy reading articles in magazines like this but I have to say this one actually gets me to. The layouts are perfect for legibility and well organized.
It's a stunning cover, loving the blue they used for the headline and the picture of President Obama is quite nice though I wouldn't have minded it being a bit bigger to get to a real portrait type photo.

Honestly this is the only thing I can find that might bother me a little bit, apart from that kudos to the whole GQ team in Paris.

Time to go grab yours!

On a side note: Obama has been on a few other GQ covers, which one is your favorite?

Daniel Craig: GQ v.s ESQUIRE

Latest 007 Daniel Craig is on the cover of both GQ France and Esquire U.K
for their October issue and I can't complain. But who is doing it better?

Let's start with the photography.

For Esquire we have famous photographer Terry O'Neil with a straight on portrait and for GQ, photographer Tom Craig opting for a lighter setting and something slightly more interesting than a straight on pose. The photography is clearly better handled in every way by GQ France. The styling is great (that suit looks perfect on him) and he looks the most like himself. Esquire seemed to have had a bit of a mishap regarding the styling (and I also want to say Craig's face? I'm not the only one seeing there's a problem there am I?), what is Craig wearing? nothing I'd buy for my guy for sure...They tried to do something way more dressed up than they usually go for on their covers and it didn't work.

Now design wise.

 I'm not playing favorites but GQ does it better as well. Mostly I like their typeface better than Esquire U.K, it makes more of a statement and is way more pleasant to look at. Don't get me wrong Esquire's cover looks fine but considering they are indeed esquire they should look great. The whole thing looks a bit awkward to me.
Let's hope their next cover makes us forget about this one because so far (excluding this little accident) they've been amazing.

GQ October is bare & dapper for fall 2012

GQ U.S, U.K and FRANCE throw at us multiple covers for this fall, good thing?
I'm not so sure... We see here how drastically different the same magazine is from one country to another, and apparently the country where the magazine originated from isn't always the leading example to follow.

Well hello there Mr. Craig! GQ France didn't do anything particularly special for this October issue but why change a winning style? This edition of the magazine has been gorgeous all on it's own completely detaching itself from its American sibling for a while now. The typefaces are custom made for GQ France and were designed by Anton Koovit, Yassin Baggar and Yorgo Tloupas. The boldness might appear a bit overpowering at first but it actually fits the general design perfectly. It's clean, modern and gorgeous all the way. We have a definite winner here there's no question about it!

Very sexy Tinie Tempah and Lana Del Rey cover GQ U.K going black and white for this fall. Both covers for this UK edition are at first glance a mixture of steamy and classy. The photography by Mariano Vivanco for Lana and Dylan Don for Tinie Tempah is perfect and the styling is just as good. What is bringing these covers down you may ask? well it's the typography. I mean really? I tried to find the name of the font they used unsuccessfully, not that I want to use it, it's not my taste and really not in sync with the GQ style. I understand the concept behind this but they could have used a more modern typeface and make this look way more appealing. So for this issue I'm not sure I can look past the font used. Still, I do have to give them credit for standing out on stands and be eye catching even if only for a few seconds.

Oh GQ U.S...what's been going on with you? Granted your photography of actors Denzel washington and Javier Bardem is great and that should'nt change but your typography is just boring. There is nothing special about these covers and it's a bit disappointing...The typography is just so cluttered and boringly stacked, you have so much more to offer than that, and if you don't I'm asking myself why pay $5 for this. When are they going to redesign this to be visually more appealing? Hoping for something better for the next issue.

GQ U.K's May Issue rocks your iPad

The May issue of GQ U.K is out on our tablets and all I have to say is nice job!

Model Candice Swanepoel is on the cover with great photography
from Terry Richardson.

This issue is sexier than ever and the inside is just as delicious as the outside. The cover with its restricted and sexy color palette is more than appealing and the way the pictures are being revealed as you scroll down do read the article is the perfect touch. Awesome come back from last month's issue. Nice work from the iPad team!
Hopefully this will make GQ U.S switch things up a bit on their iPad edition and think outside the box.

If there's an issue you want on your iPad this month, it's this one!

GQ covers match worldwide

Recently owner of an iPad, the first thing to do was to download all the GQ apps available from newsstand. I've been enjoying comparing the different designs of the magazine from one country to another. 

GQ France and GQ U.S are both beautifully designed wether it be print or iPad (Hurry up GQ France we want  more issues uploaded on the app!). On the U.K side things are quite disappointing. The April design was less than appealing to me, the overall childish type treatment for the headlines completely broke off from the GQ style we all love so much. Despite the fact that this march issue in particular is supposed to be a comedy issue, the type treatment was just too off. I also have to admit I don't care for Olivia Wilde's picture on the cover, I barely recognized her..

So for April we have a winner for the U.S Style bible special issue 

which with its alternate covers blows away the competition with a 

very clean and modern design.

France comes in second place 

with great photography though the copy gets a bit overwhelming on the cover, 

nonetheless good overall design.

Last on the finish line is U.K 

with a design fail for march way back there trying to catch up...