I've never worked in advertising - my experience was as an editorial designer for magazines - but you could say, in the bigger picture, that magazines are vehicles for colour advertising.
By the time I came to the States, I really understood how a magazine works. I came to 'Vogue' as creative director, and three years later I went back to London to be editor in chief of British 'Vogue.'
The art editor in charge of the covers at the 'New Yorker' is Francoise Mouly. She's very familiar with the eccentricities and personalities of cartoonists, so working with her is very easy.
I'm definitely not a monthly guy. Probably never will be. I'm simply in awe of the guys who do monthly books well... hell, in awe of people who do monthlies period.
For eight months, from January to August of 2007, I filmed with Anna Wintour and her team at 'Vogue' as they created the September 2007 issue of the magazine.
I actually don't know how magazines are produced, I'll be honest with you. I have no idea.
Most magazines have that look of being predestined to be left which one sees on the faces of the women whose troubles bring them to the Law Courts.
I have very strong theories about magazine publishing. And I think that it is the most personal form of journalism. And I think that a magazine is an old friend.
One thing I learned working at magazines was that if you couldn't get people to look at a page or a cover, then you were fired. It was all about how you create arresting works, and by arresting I mean stop people, even for a nano-second.
I had been reading magazines a lot, and I love magazines, and so I was always asking myself why is it that these gorgeous articles just don't translate well to the web? Presentation was one aspect of it.
Before that I wanted to be a magazine illustrator - I probably would have painted Gothic scenes.
I was so passionate about being in the magazine industry, even when I first started at 'Mirabella.'
There's a curiosity about what magazine editors do, the behind-the-curtain experience.
I'm really excited to see my vision for the 'British Vogue' team come to fruition.
I think one of the best jobs in the universe must be being the editor of 'The New Yorker', but there are a number of magazines that I'd be excited to be the editor of. They would be 'Wired', 'The New Yorker' and probably, 'Vogue'.
Running a magazine is a journalistic assignment, and part of the fun of being a journalist is that you get to change jobs every so often. Though there's no stated term limit, four or five years should be plenty of time to put your stamp on a publication.
My very first magazine cover was the National Enquirer.
I was the executive editor on a little magazine called Greek Accent, whose only claim to fame is that its art director went on to be the art director of Discover for many years.
I think in conventional magazine wisdom, you need to have a redesign every decade or so.
When I first redesigned the 'Surfer' magazine, a magazine about magazines took a copy to the famous American designer Milton Glaser, and - surprise surprise - he hated it.
There are so many magazines and so many editors out there that you have to be different.
A truly great magazine cover surprises, even shocks, and connects in a nano-second.
