The STEP 100 is back and better than ever. Our judges (John Bielenberg, Dana Lytle, Terry Marks, Jilly Simons, and DJ Stout) spent a day and a half on their feet poring through every single entry to come up with the best 100 pieces. They all said it was the most grueling design judging they’ve ever participated in. (Guess who was the drill sergeant, pushing them to their limits?) I’m happy to say it was worth it, and I think you’ll agree when you see the winners. Nancy Bernard notes in her “Design Trends 2006” article, “… in the dozen or so years I’ve reviewed competitions, this is the loveliest body of winning work I’ve ever seen. I believe that in itself is a trend.” She then goes on to identify specific design trends she observed in the winning pieces and points out fads that have gone by the wayside since last year. It’s a fun read that offers some real insight into the year of design ahead of us [see page 52].

COVER STORY
The authors of Be A Design Group contacted me in early December with an unusual proposal: They wanted to host a STEP cover competition on their website that would be observed and critiqued by anyone visiting the site. I was intrigued. After all, Drew Davies, one of BADG’s founders, posted a critical review on the site of the Nov/Dec 2005 STEP “Kitten” cover designed by Emily Oberman and Bonnie Siegler. I thought that if we opened this process up to the outside world, the Monday morning design quarterbacks would have a different opinion of what it takes to make a good cover. I accepted their proposal.

Here’s how it worked: Eight of the site’s authors teamed up in pairs to form four design teams. Each team created a new cover design every couple of days based on feedback from readers and STEP. Although all the comments were taken into consideration, the STEP staff had the final say on the cover design. I wouldn’t have wanted to be any of the designers participating, as the comments from visitors were often harsh and not at all constructive. From my perspective, it was an interesting experiment in designing in a public forum.

The winning cover was designed by Bennett Holzworth and Donovan Beery, but I’d like to give kudos to all the designers who participated: Drew Davies, Clinton Carlson, Adrian Hanft, David Kadavy, Nate Voss, and Paul Berkbigler. To read about the process and see the progression of the cover designs, go to “Cover concepts”.

Of course, even with the open forum, we were still criticized for our cover selection. Hey, this never was about pleasing everyone.