"Let's redesign the magazine!" It sounded like a good idea at the time. After all, we've only done it once before, and that was ten years ago. How hard could it be?
Now I remember. It's like pregnancy and childbirth. You forget the anxious nights spent worrying about overdue stories and pending proposals. Strike from your memory the anguish of labor—those long and increasingly strenuous days of putting together a magazine you and your readers can be proud of. You have to make decisions at every step: content, story assignments, story treatments, font styles, photographs, design elements, readability and editorial balance. And every time I pick up a red pen, there it is, like clockwork: that undeniable craving for chocolate.
At least I wasn't in this alone. With the blessing of the magazine advisory board members (Mary Ruth Yoe '73, Kevin O'Keefe '74, Sue De Pasquale '87 and Meredith Davies Hadaway M'96), I called everyone I know with the happy news of an impending redesign. Really, I was looking for a little reassurance and a lot of guidance. Neal Boulton '89 answered his cell phone one mid-afternoon from a deli in New York City. The kid who wrote, illustrated and printed his first magazine as an undergraduate is now the editor-in-chief of American Media's Men's Fitness; He was thrilled for us and offered the best kind of assistance: his top designer.
I can't say enough nice things about Wilbert Gutierrez, the man who gave the Washington College Magazine a fresh new look—in plenty of time to meet our deadline, as it turns out. He was patient, understanding and easy to work with. Still, this anniversary issue wouldn't have happened without our art director and my favorite sister-in-law, Diane D'Aquino Landskroener '76 M'81, who interpreted and implemented Willy's design, and who talked me through a series of anxiety attacks.
Finally, here she is!—our 20th anniversary baby! I hope you find her as beautiful and as near perfect as I think she is.
— MCL
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