Magazine-turned-web guru Tina Brown has never claimed her design sense was that original. At the stillborn Talk, she opted for a portable format, a magazine published on thin paper that could be rolled up and carried around like a European newsweekly such as Stern. And that same inspiration is shared by her baby news website, the Daily Beast. "I've always loved the look of the European smart tabloids," she says with the sophistication that comes from a media career on both sides of the Atlantic. There's just one problem: the logo of the new IAC-backed website looks more like that of the Philadelphia Daily News, the tabloid paper of New York's rather dowdy southern neighbor.
Tacky interior design cliches—like lampshades fashioned out of human flesh, umbrella stands made from bones, solidified organ paperweights—are so over. So it's refreshing to see, in the austere pages of InTouch magazine, that pretend rock star Dave Navarro is celebrated for his more subdued and updated design aesthetic, which includes artwork by John Wayne Gacy. Gacy, you'll recall, is that charming fella who dressed like a clown and brutally raped and murdered 30 young men and boys back in the 1970's, burying their bodies under his house. Killer! Click for larger. [via
Artist Scott King reimagines Vogue. "His 12 artworks featuring fictional proposals for Vogue covers ruthlessly lampoon the fatuous froth of the glossy. Take January, The Angry Issue: its main feature - 769 Things That Make Scarlett Johansson Angry At Injustice. Inside, we are promised advice on 'how to dress angry', a report on 'whatever happened to New Orleans' and 'how Bono saved Africa'." Highly recommended. [