The Mario Blog

12.07.2011—4am    Post #1318
‘Tis the season for the gift of illustration at the WSJ

TAKEAWAY: Nice poster part of holiday gift guide at The Wall Street Journal

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Illustration by Bella Foster, as it appeared in the weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal

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We thank designer Bryan Erickson, of The Wall Street Journal, for giving us a heads up on this beautiful full poster that was part of the newspaper’s annual holiday gift guide this weekend.

As we all know, newspapers worldwide face difficult economic times, especially in the US, so one of the things we do not see much of these days is the use of illustrations that used to be such an important part of a newspaper’s design. So to see this full poster treatment of a wonderful illustration by Bella Foster, an illustrator and painter, was, indeed, a gift to the readers. The WSJ commissioned Ms. Foster to create this piece especially for the newspaper.

Bryan writes me that this was part of a special holiday section and ran as a full page. “This was part of the annual gift guide…as our gift to readers,” Bryan says. “Given your long history with WSJ, Ithought you might find this lovely!”

Indeed, it is beautiful, Bryan, and shows us what newspapers can do with a little effort, the talent of illustrators and designers, and, of course, the space to spare.

I am sure that readers of the WSJ appreciated the effort.

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