ASME cover awards, first place 2008: best cover of the year

Design Barbara Kruger

One of the biggest stories in New York this year was the fall of Governor Eliot Spitzer, after the stunning revelation that he had patronized a prostitution ring. New York’s March 24, 2008 cover treated the scandal in a bold yet disarming way that managed to make news itself—telling the story of the governor’s fall with a wry and unflinching point of view. Looking for personal, opinionated perspectives on the topic, the magazine solicited visual commentary from artists, graphic designers, and advertising creatives, providing them with five photographs of Spitzer to work off. Artist Barbara Kruger’s graphic interpretation on Henry Leutwyler’s photograph—the word “BRAIN” in a bright-red box with an arrow pointing to the area of Spitzer’s anatomy that seemed to have been thinking for him—was quickly selected, thanks to its directness, humor, and simplicity. The cover required no headlines. The image succeeded powerfully all by itself.