Peter Kafka

Recent Posts by Peter Kafka

Found! A Magazine Guy Who Yawns at the iPad.

The magazine industry has placed tremendous–very likely, unrealistic–hope in the iPad. One exception: Magazine god George Lois.

Lois influenced generations of art directors during his 10-year tenure at Esquire, which spanned most of the 1960s. You can see several examples of his iconic covers below, and a bigger collection here.

It would be nice to think that Lois is excited about the possibilities creative types could explore with Apple’s (AAPL) new gadget, too. But he’s not. From a New York Observer interview this month:

And what does he think about reading a magazine on the soon-to-be-released iPad? “It’s okay, I guess,” he said. “But magazines will never die because there is a visceral feeling of having that thing in your hands and turning the pages. It’s so different on the screen. It’s the difference between looking at a woman and having sex with her.”

UPDATE: If nothing else, Lois is consistent with his magazine vs. tablet metaphor. Here he is talking to Wired creative director (and tablet enthusiast) Scott Dadich. He also says something quite similar in the newest issue of Wired itself, as Robert Quigley notes.

Conversations with Mr. Lois PART III from SPD Videos on Vimeo.

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Another gadget you don’t really need. Will not work once you get it home. New model out in 4 weeks. Battery life is too short to be of any use.

— From the fact sheet for a fake product entitled Useless Plasticbox 1.2 (an actual empty plastic box) placed in L.A.-area Best Buy stores by an artist called Plastic Jesus