New Work: AwardsLine (Emmy Issue 4 of 5)

July 28, 2014 Robb Rice

Billy Bob Thornton (Fargo) photographed by J.R. Mankoff

Cat Deeley (So You Think You Can Dance) photographed by J.R. Mankoff

Anthony Bourdain (Parts Unknown) photographed by Mark Mann

Jodie Foster (Orange Is the New Black) photographed by J.R. Mankoff

Mike Judge (Silicon Valley) photographed by J.R. Mankoff

Post-Nom Emmy Shoot (Part 2: New York)

July 17, 2014 Robb Rice

Shooting five nominees today with Mark Mann, including Anthony Bourdain, Heidi Klum, Matt Bomer and Uzo Aduba

Anthony Bourdain moments after Jujitsu class

Matt Bomer (The Normal Heart)

Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum (Project Runway)

Uzo Aduba (Orange Is The New Black)

Post-Nom Emmy Shoot (Part 1: Los Angeles)

July 16, 2014 Robb Rice

Another photo-shoot marathon today with J.R. Mankoff, featuring Emmy nominees Billy Bob Thornton, Jodie Foster, Mike Judge, Fred Armisen, Kerry Washington, Andre Braugher, Minnie Driver, Natasha Lyonne, Cat Deeley and Colin Hanks. Next up: New York

Billy Bob Thornton (Fargo)

Jodie Foster (Orange Is The New Black)

Fred Armisen (Portlandia)

Kerry Washington (Scandal)

Mike Judge (Silicon Valley)

Cat Deeley (So You Think You Can Dance)

Andre Braugher (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)

Variety (Remixed)

June 19, 2014 Robb Rice

In addition to the weekly magazine, Variety publishes daily editions during Emmy and Oscar season — a potentially confusing array of products for readers given the trade's recent history as a daily and the pervasiveness of false ad covers that obscure both graphic and editorial cues to each new issue.

My solution was to create a design and editorial structure that was unique enough to avoid confusion with the weekly, yet familiar enough that readers would immediately be comfortable navigating its pages.

The final cover sketch for the daily editions. Editorial space was carved out above the advertising and to the right of the logo to clearly label the edition, tease the content inside and differentiate between the weekly magazine.

To signal 'soft news' and to help avoid confusion with the weekly magazine, the daily edition features large folios positioned in a more spacious top margin, a bright blue color used behind captions and pull quotes, and a different display and text style of Commercial Type's Duplicate family (Ionic).

The page architecture of the daily edition is largely based on a rejected sketch from the Variety redesign project in 2013. Screenshots of those sketches can be found in the Past Projects section of this site under Rejected/Unpublished.

Duplicate Ionic offered a subtle shift in tone and voice for the daily editions while retaining a strong visual link to the design of the weekly magazine which uses Duplicate Slab and Sans throughout.

The Contenders portion of the magazine (awards content) is labeled with gold folios.

This checkerboard-like layout was created to highlight likely contenders in each awards category. It allows flexibility in the number of entries listed for each category, scale change within the imagery for visual interest, while providing the art dept. an easy-to-follow template for quick production.

Creative Director for all pages: Chris Mihal. Director of Photography: Bailey Franklin.

New Work: AwardsLine (Emmy Issue 3 of 5)

June 11, 2014 Robb Rice

Bay-area photographer Thomas Sanders was commissioned to capture convincing viewer reactions to television gore for this week's cover story. Casting was done on Craigslist!

Mapping the career paths of actors who began on TV, dabbled in film, and then returned to the small screen.

Jim Parsons (The Normal Heart) photographed by J.R. Mankoff

Keri Russell (The Americans) photographed by Mark Mann

Lizzy Caplan (Masters of Sex) photographed by J.R. Mankoff

Josh Charles (The Good Wife) photographed by Mark Mann

Jane Fonda (The Newsroom) photographed by J.R. Mankoff

New Work: AwardsLine (Emmy Issue 2 of 5)

June 3, 2014 Robb Rice

The Comedy Issue

Lorne Michaels (Saturday Night Live) photographed by Mark Mann

Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) photographed by J.R. Mankoff

Anna Chlumsky (Veep) photographed by Mark Mann

Will Arnett (The Millers, Arrested Development) photographed by J.R. Mankoff

Mindy Kaling (The Mindy Project) photographed by J.R. Mankoff

The Sympathy Vote, illustrated by Costhanzo

The new crop of late night hosts.

New Work: AwardsLine (Emmy Issue 1 of 5)

May 28, 2014 Robb Rice

Recently promoted Editor-In-Chief Anna Lisa Raya and I are back in production of Deadline's awards-season publication AwardsLine, and although our staff has been reduced by one, we've managed to set the bar pretty high for what a two-man team can accomplish at a weekly with limited resources. Here, a brief look at the first issue . . .

True Detective's Matthew McConaughey, photographed by Kevin Scanlon

Cover story on event programming. The display typeface Diversa (designed by Dino dos Santos) joins the type palette this Emmy season.

Mark Mann was recruited to shoot all of the New York-based talent for the Dialogue section this season in B&W. House of Cards show runner Beau Willimon, above.

J.R. Mankoff tackled the L.A. photo shoots in color. Ryan Murphy (The Normal Heart, Glee, American Horror Story), above.

The Crafts dept, focusing on below-the-line talent.

Buenos Aires-based illustrator Costhanzo has again been commissioned to create every illustration in the book.

Each issue begins with The First Take, a full spread, behind-the-scenes look at a contending show.

Front-of-book column. Cyrus Highsmith's Salvo Sans is used for body text (and sometimes display) throughout the magazine.

The back page.

A Quickie w/ Lorne Michaels

May 9, 2014 Robb Rice

It's hard to argue for more time and greater access with talent when you pull off these quick and dirty shoots (notice the low ceiling) with great results (check back in 3 weeks for the final photos) . . .

Mark Mann (who photographed President Obama for Esquire in just 4 minutes), working fast with Lorne Michaels for AwardsLine inside a 6-minute window between tapings of The Tonight Show and Late Night (with SNL rehearsals happening behind that curtain).