So Gay

Okay, I have a really choice freelance client that goes way, way back. Its a bi-monthly magazine I've laid out for something like a dozen years now. It's steady, they pay their bills, it promotes something I really love, and I get a great deal of creative freedom.

A great deal. I didn't always have. A couple of editors back, I had one who insisted on certain things being mind-blowingly mundane. He was a great guy, and a joy to work with on many levels, but he could be beyond square when it came to creating visual interest.

And, in all fairness, at 38, I'm young for this magazine's readership, so he was probably right.

The current regime, though, gives me the freest hand I've ever had. And while my lack of talent has held things in check, I think the magazine looks better, on the whole, for it.

Thing is, when I design stuff, the best I can do, normally, is come up with something I'm not totally embarrassed by. Once in a blue moon I actually have an idea I like, but probably less than once a year. Not just this magazine, I'm talking 40-60 hours a week of full time design work.

At any rate, in this latest issue, I had uncharacteristically large amounts of space to play with. And a dearth of good photos. Get a good hi-res photo for a feature article and some space, you can let the photographer do the work. Full page and double-truck photos make great opening spreads.

For this, though, I was stuck. And I've been feeling a tad grungy lately. Artistically, not hygienically.

So I grabbed a bit of stock art and threw it together with a little Old Negro Wisdom and came up with an opening spread I truly loved. It wasn't as colorful as this, the spread was black and white, so I had to grayscale everything. This muted the effect, but I was still, generally, pleased with myself.



Then I get the email from my editor with notes on the proof. These notes generally are txpos that need fixing or other missed details.

"I don't really like the flower theme...Looks 'queerish,' my son said, and that's that."

I'd have hoped the son, who's younger than me, would at least bail me out. I wanted to make a case for my layout, but somehow 'You should have seen it in color, that was really gay' didn't seem to be the way to storm the ramparts.

So I guess I'll save this design for an article about a woman. Because when women are gay, that's just hot, right?