Swindle Magazine
The definitive pop-culture magazine of the 2000’s
The definitive pop-culture magazine of the 2000’s
Swindle was an internationally distributed and groundbreaking pop culture and lifestyle publication founded by Roger Gastman and Shepard Fairey in 2004. It blended aesthetic sophistication with intellectual appeal to create a timeless magazine that influenced culture rather than just report on it. Swindle elevated art, design and fashion by featuring it alongside socially conscious news stories from around the world. It created discourse between indie pop culture and the mainstream, always honoring the historical context of its subjects with cutting-edge design.
In 2004 I was hired as art director for the magazine. I was young, and it was the biggest project that I had worked on at that point, and one that certainly would have the widest audience and exposure. The Swindle team also had a distributed workflow before that was a common practice–for the first two years, I worked in Philadelphia while the rest of the magazine was made in Los Angeles. So many hours spent burning DVDs with the final artwork to send to the printer! I cannot overemphasize how much I learned throughout those four years during which I art directed over twenty issues of Swindle.
The magazine was lengthy, almost always over 160 pages, and we released both soft and hardcover editions of each issue. We covered artists, scientists, musicians, theorists, writers–people like Damien Hirst, Billy Idol, Barbra Kruger, Steven Pinker, Banksy, and Tyra Banks. There was no limit to who and what Swindle would investigate. Besides being able to work with some great people and all of the amazing artists and talents we featured, I was able to gain invaluable experience into the business side of the publishing world. I learned how to plan a publication schedule, work with advertisers, collaborate with illustrators and photographers, brainstorm ideas with our fashion editor Claw and managing editor Anne, and most importantly how to make sure it all got done on time.
We were ambitious and each issue was a challenge. Large publications, especially ones that come out frequently, are always the effort of a team, and never the result of a single individuals work. It’s a near endless amount of work to put together a magazine, no one person could do it anyway, and I am proud to say that all the people involved with Swindle were incredibly talented, and they all played a role in my development as a designer and art director. I’ll always be grateful for those long days in Los Angeles, going over final edits with Anne, or checking color proofs with Roger and Leon.
Project
Type
For
1 Sea Change
Publication Design
Haverford University
2 Heartworm Reader Issue One
Publication Design
Heartworm Press
3 Slagerij DeSchuyt
Identity Design
Slagerij DeSchuyt
4 By Proxy
Publication Design
James Cohan Gallery
5 Carbon Social Club
Identity Design
Lauren GIfford
6 Memory Place Desire
Publication Design
Haverford University
7 Digital Anthropomorphism
Publication Design
Andre Gray
8 Louise Nevelson
Publication Design
Locks Gallery
9 Making: Your Life As An Artist
Publication Design
Andrew Simonet
10 TwoFiveSix
Website Design
TwoFiveSix
11 A Field Guide to Philadelphia's Public Art
Publication Design
City of Philadelphia
12 Elizabeth Atterbury
Publication Design
The Colby Museum
13 Good For One Fare
Publication & Installation Design
Self-Initiated
14 Strategic HR
Publication Design
Ed Krow
15 Ultraboost 19
Global Advertising Campaign
adidas
16 City as Protagonist
Publication Design
Self-Initiated
17 What We Want Is Here
Publication Design
Asian Arts Initiative
18 Killscreen
Website Design & Strategy
Killscreen
19 The World by Train
Publication Design
Self Initiated
20 Next City Aniversary
Editorial Design & Art Direction
Next City
21 An Inaccurate, Incomplete and Absolutely True History of the City of Philadelphia
Publication & Installation Design
Self-Initiated
22 Philagrafika 2010
Publication Design
Philagrafika
23 Michael Snow / Photo-Centric
Publication Design
Philadelphia Musuem Of Art
24 LoDown x Radical Cutup
Publication Design
LoDown Berlin
25 The Pool
Identity Design
The Pool
26 The World Stage
Exhibition Design
Next City
27 Depth of Surface
Publication Design
Philagrafika
28 Next City Magazine
Magazine Design
Next City
29 Akustikplatten
Identity Design
Julien Grefe
30 Heartworm Publications
Publication Design
Heartworm Press
31 Letting Go
Publication Design
Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
32 Steve Powers
Publication & Website Design
Steve Powers
33 The Stumbling Present
Publication Design
University of Santa Barbara
34 Swindle Magazine
Magazine Design
Roger Gastman & Shepard Fairey
35 Common Touch
Publication Design
Library Company of Philadelphia
36 Mural Arts @30
Publication Design
Mural Arts Program
37 City Limits Magazine
Magazine Design & Art Direction
City Limits
38 Fels Policy Research Initiative
Identity Design
University of Pennsylvania
39 Red Collective
Identity Design
Red Collective Real Estate Group
40 Haiku Song
Publication Design
Mural Arts Program
41 Room 21
Website & Identity Design
Barnes Foundation / Jace Clayton