Emily [Potts] asked me to design this cover, because I’m featured in the issue [see The Education of Paul Sahre: FULL CIRCLE]. Since there was no theme, I naturally started to think in terms of illustrating the cover using issues that were addressed in my article. Designing something for or about yourself is never easy, but it is always a good challenge. I did have a few themes that I hoped might give me some objectivity: “design education,” and the idea of coming “full circle.”

The initial cover idea came from a photo shoot I did with Jason Fulford for an exhibition of my students’ work, which is featured in the article. I recruited my friend, photographer Michael Northrup, on short notice to shoot the cover. I liked this image of the empty crit wall because it relates to the theme of education and suggested design— or at least the crit process [top]. The holes are kind of leftover ideas. If you look at it long enough you start thinking about all the ideas that were posted there. Each hole is a universe. I thought we had our cover: It was moving, logical, and memorable. But it was politely rejected as a bit vague and not instantly communicative. This surprised me initially, but after a conversation with Emily, I understood the problems with it and began thinking of something else.

I switched gears and started to think about my other theme—full circle. The second round of covers I thought dealt with the theme, but in retrospect were just as vague as the first cover [middle and right]. These were also rejected. This time, I wasn’t surprised. I had one more shot at the cover, and time was running out. I finally arrived at this idea while I was working on something else [see cover]. It always amazes me when that happens. You know, you think about something intently for a while and nothing comes to mind, then you think about something else and a solution comes out of nowhere. The idea of a bunch of pencils stuck in the crit wall suggests many of the things that the blank crit wall did but with some added elements, and it made the people at STEP happy, which made me happy.