First TABPI Design Challenge winner selected!

The inaugural TABPI Design Challenge contest was open to all b2b art directors and designers. The Challenge is meant to reward graphic creativity in the b2b industry, as well as serve as an educational exercise for other artists. Do you have suggestions for a future design or editorial challenge? Email us with your suggestions.


Design Challenge #1

You work for Concrete Times magazine as the art director. Your April 2008 issue will be your 40th anniversary issue, and the publisher insists that this be the focus of the cover. However, your editor-in-chief wants the theme to reflect their first-ever 100 Top Leaders article, in which the most influential people in the concrete industry are ranked.

They've reached an impasse, and have come to you to see if there's a way to combine both ideas on the cover. You have no photography budget, but you can use some inexpensive stock photos, if you feel they're necessary.


Our panel of design judges consisted of:

Miguel Bravo, Art Director, Gifts & Decorative Accessories and Playthings
Bryan Crowe, Art Director, Cosmetics & Toiletries
Shawn Hoefler, Art Director, HPAC Engineering
Jaun Mims, Art Director, National Real Estate Investor
Roxanne Rash, Art Director, Print Solutions Magazine

We asked all of our judges for both positive feedback and constructive criticism of all the winners, so as to make this a learning experience for everyone. We also welcome your feedback. Did our panel pick the one you liked the best? What would you have done differently?



The winning solution

Submitted by MaTT Britcher, Art Director, appliance DESIGN magazine, BNP Media. Britcher will receive U.S. $250 for his winning solution.

I decided to go with the editor, as the Top 100 people in the concrete industry is far more compelling to want to pick up and read then 40 years of print. I know there would be at least 100 people waiting to see themselves on the cover of the 40th anniversary issue of their favorite concrete rag. The background image is none other than the National Concrete Association building being built in 2006. We also chose to have Richard Castello on the cover, you may recognise him from the Top 100 list as he is the #1 concrete engineer as ranked by Concrete Times magazine. As for the publisher, we decided to go with a special section within the magazine to feature our 40 year timeline of Concrete Times. We have also placed a very high contrast silver foil anniversary badge on the cover along with a corner peel. In the business-to-business world, every detail is important as sales MUST continue to grow.

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Honorable mentions to follow ...

Submitted by Addie Janhevich, Senior Art Director, Ward’s AutoWorld and
Ward’s Dealer Business magazines, Penton Media, Inc.

My design solution for Concrete Times grew from the idea of the 4 elements that make up concrete: sand, stone, water and cement. I divided the four elements into an “X” formation on the cover with bars on the top and bottom to echo the Roman numeral for 10. Tied together through design, the four elements and the X represent the 40th anniversary of the magazine. The headline ties in the ranking article by comparing concrete building blocks to the leaders being building blocks of the industry.

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Submitted by Alain Loretz, Creative Director, Technews (various technology magazines), South Africa.

The reason for the 100 portion of the cover being the focal point is that 100 is a very important figure in any term and I thought this should take the leading role, not to be outdone is the fact that the magazine has been running 40 years, which I am sure many a valued client is totally aware of. I therefore found the integration of the two figures to be a nice marriage of the elements with the 100 taking a slightly more prominent role without taking anything away from the important anniversary. There needs to be one or the other with a more focal role, had they both been of similar size then there would most definitely been a fight between the two making the cover less pleasing ... as it stands, it is creative but clean!

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Submitted by Wendy Del Campo, Senior Art Director, Creative Services Department, Reed Business Information.

I’ve worked as an art director for nearly 20 years in the b2b industry. Publishers and editors-in-chief often have different ideas for the cover focus. This design challenge certainly could happen in the real world. My solution was to keep the anniversary announcement as a tag line with the Concrete Times logo. I chose a red ribbon to grab the reader’s attention. The art I created for the Top 100 Industry Leaders is simple; not to compete with the top image, yet it shows some action with the concrete being lowered. I chose a simple silhouette for the man, keeping his identity obscure to lure the reader’s attention and entice them to read the story to find out more. I made the text ‘Top 100 Leaders’ gold to emphasize their stature.

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Submitted by Denise Faddis, Art Director, Injection Molding Magazine and Modern Plastics Worldwide, Canon Communications, LLC.

You will find not one but two images of the same cover. As I thought about the challenge I realized just how important and valid both cover ideas are. Each concept deserved its own space and a sharp, eye-catching cleanness to the design. Forcing them on one cover felt a bit claustrophobic and in my eyes diminished the importance of both. I combined them in one cover by coming up with the idea of a half cover flap that would give each idea its own showcase and combine the concepts rather than having them compete. After all, 4o years in the business and a special feature on the top 100 leaders in the industry really do go hand-in-hand. This solution will catch the reader’s eye and interest with its clean, colorful look and large text. The inside of the flap could be sold to an advertiser or could feature the images of the top 100 leaders with text leading readers to the article and page number.

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Submitted by Bobbi Burow, Art Director, Cygnus Law Enforcement Group, Law Enforcement Technology, Law Enforcement Product News, Officer.com, Enforcement Expo.

As you will see, my cover celebrates the 40th anniversary issue with a chrome award feel in the background while still focusing on the main article for the issue, which is the top leaders. I used an illustration to represent the influential people in the concrete industry. Since the article is a ranking I felt it was not necessary to see their faces. I limited the use of color to keep the design from looking too busy.

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