Readers' Choice cover design

One of the most exciting publications of the year done by our local newspaper is the Readers’ Choice special edition. Readers of The Davis Enterprise are invited to vote for their favorite businesses in Yolo County, thousands of readers vote and the winners are announced inside of Readers’ Choice. 2017 is the first year that I designed the cover for our Readers’ Choice edition and the design is comical, which is a rare angle for our newspaper covers.

Our newspaper actually puts on a Readers’ Choice awards party each year for the first place winners in dozens of different business categories, so I decided to do a theatre hall design. I included an envelope that says “This is not a joke” which is referring to the Oscars and the tilted Oscar look alike statue is comically popping himself into the frame alluding to the mixup that occurred this year.

I had help from several fellow staff members in coming up with the concept, and I vividly composed the design in my mind as we brainstormed. The cover itself took 45 minutes or so to create, which is super quick. Sometimes when you know exactly what you want and where to get the imagery, it can be easy to bust out a design, though admittedly usually not this easy.

My hope is that during the awards party and among families and friends at homes throughout Davis people will ask “What does it mean ‘This is not a joke.'”? Then there will be an explanation from the many people who are in the know about what occurred during this year’s Oscars. It’s a small hope of engagement through good design, and I think it’s a realistic hope.