Page 31 - INTERACTIVE MAGAZINE

DESIGN N THINGS. ARTIST
September/October. PROFILES
30
‘I

sometimes liken

art direction to film

directing. They start

with a script, basically

just words on white

paper, and they read

of
Chris Sas-
it and start to imagine Dixon wan, he
katche-
is the
quiet man
took part-time
of contemporary by Chris Nixon art and design classes.
editorial design. He has
and visualise it. worked on some of the most He was accepted into Vancouver’s Emily Carr Institute
‘Then I discovered what
graphic design really was,’ he explains.
prominent North American magazines –
Adbusters, The New York Times Magazine and New York
of Art & Design, completing a three-year programme in 1997.
– and alongside some of the most creative editors (Kalle Lasn and Adam His graduate project (an exhibition for Amnesty International) caught the
Moss) and designers (Janet Froelich, Luke Hayman) of our times. But his
You can do it a appointment as creative director of Condé Nast’s flagship title, Vanity Fair, in Adbusters, who was looking for a new art director. Dixon started the job a
eye of visiting teacher Kalle Lasn, founder of the ‘culture-jamming’ journal
2011 saw him finally emerge in his own right as a key figure in
month later. ‘I didn’t specifically pursue a magazine job but this was a unique
contemporary magazines.
Since its revival in 1983 (the original Vanity Fair was folded into Vogue in opportunity to evolve the visuals in a new direction, and it was a somewhat
high-profile magazine,’ he says with typical understatement.
1935), Vanity Fair has developed a rich mixture of in-depth general interest
thousand different features and high-concept celebrity photographic stories. Yet its page design audience. Highlights of the period include the revival of the First Things
Under Dixon’s art direction, Adbusters found a new design-oriented
and typography struggled to attain the same sophistication and polish.
‘Dixonise it!’ was his brief from the editor, Graydon Carter, and since he
supermarket-pastiche ‘Magazine’ cover. Working with Tibor Kalman on First
started in October 2011, Dixon has been quietly doing just that. Opting First manifesto, a special designed by Jonathan Barnbrook and Dixon’s
ways.’ carefully planned section-by-section re-invention of the entire publication. Magazine as well as a brief period running his own studio.
Things First 2000 led Dixon to Manhattan and stints at The New York Times
to avoid a complete one-off design overhaul, he has made his mark with a
Dixon’s next full time role was at New York magazine, where in 2004 he
It took twelve issues to complete this first stage, but the result is a highly
detailed design that has sympathy for what is otherwise a well oiled machine
Moss. Luke Hayman was the new design director, Jody Quon (also ex-NYT
of a magazine, while also repositioning it as a contemporary piece of joined a newly appointed team led by former NYT Magazine editor Adam
publishing design. Dixon has made Vanity Fair more itself. Magazine) the picture editor. As art director, Dixon was effectively Hayman’s
By his own account, Dixon (born 1967 in Saskatchewan, Canada) deputy. This group went on to execute one of the most highly regarded rede-
‘stumbled’ into magazine design. After studying psychology at the University signs in recent years, taking a tired, ailing magazine and rebuilding it completely
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