May Issue 2011 Cover

BIG MISTAKE on taking out his tattoos. Bias much? I found it more hilarious you took out his tattoos on the cover but not the picture of him inside. Wow. Credibility lost.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts John. There are a variety of factors that go into choosing/designing a magazine cover. Without going into too much detail, this particular photo was altered in order to be consistent with our brand and in order to provide the most striking image possible when on the newsracks. A lot of things were taken into consideration when designing this cover - the copy surrounding it, the colors we chose, the size and placement of the photo; we try to get all of these things just right with every cover, and this one was no exception.


I take responsibility for this decision, and I stand by it. We included a full-page photo of Micah (with tattoos) inside because they did not intrude with any design concept. We even asked our readers to let us know which Micah they preferred. (I'm assuming you prefer the inked version. lol)For the most part, we have gotten extremely positive feedback about this month's cover. But we understand not every cover will be to every reader's liking.

This kind of thing is NOT uncommon, by the way. It happens every day, week and month with newspapers and magazines all over the world. These tough decisions have to be made because there is a bottom line: the bottom line! Every decision we make with regard to editorial and/or artwork is done to produce the best magazine possible. We're in this business to sell magazines and make money.

I AM thrilled, however, to get feedback like yours. Even if it is not what I want to hear, at least it shows me people care enough about Compete to suggest ways they think it could be better.

Sincerely,
Buddy Early
Managing Editor
Compete

"in order to provide the most striking image possible when on the newsracks. "

Right. And taking out his tattoos to make him a generic person is the way to go.

I'm not going to debate this with you, John. You have your opinion, and it's a valid one. But not everyone shares your opinion.