time warner’s texas lawyer – trade publication

editor in chief: joseph calve, design director: rob story, illustration: kent williams (texas trial lawyer supplement), todd graveline (in-house texas supplement), lamberto alvarez (legal malpractice supplement)

in july of 1995, at the ripe old age of 26, i became the design director for time warner’s texas lawyer weekly. the new editor, joe calve, hired me based on a recommendation from then texas monthly art director, d. j. stout. i was tasked with redesigning the entire publication while joe overhauled the editorial side of things. it was my first experience with distrust, resentment and outright aggression in a professional environment. the existing staff didn’t want joe or me there. they thought that the paper looked and read just fine and that there was absolutely no room for improvement. it was rough at first, but joe took care of me as my skin thickened and i did a lot of maturing as an art director/designer at that job. i include this stuff because i think it’s important to note that my career included a stint on an edtitorial staff. below you’ll see three “supplement” covers. and, below that, i included a little shot of what the weekly looked like before i got there and what it looked like after i redesigned it.

at the time, kent williams was a rock star comic book artist. i was really thrilled to get to hire him for this cover (above). below are his sketches (sent to me by fax). this is another instance where simply making a good decision regarding who to hire as the illustrator was enough. my idea paled in comparison to his: the fierce-looking dog (representing crime in general) with both blue and white collars on. perfect. at the time, he offered to sell me the original painting for $750 (a great deal then), but i couldn’t afford it. i did eventually buy the original painting from him at a much higher price.

and, last but not least, the “before” (left) and “after” (right) of the redesigned “texas lawyer.”