Progressive Cover- Plutocracy

Nick Jehlen from The Progressive gave me a fun assignment last week, the cover for the February issue about the visually gripping concept of plutocracy. It is an idealistic, if not academic, piece by Bill Moyers, about the dangers of a society controlled by wealth. Despite feeling like it would better fit in The Economist, sometimes these kinds of articles can yield fun, broad metaphors.

 

I'm happy to give Nick credit for suggesting the idea that 'a rising tide lifts all boats' as a way to think about the plutocratic rationality. Unfortunately for some, their boats are chained to the bottom.

This was a case where I only did one sketch, that came to me almost immediately. The idea was driven in some ways by a desire to draw on blue paper, like I did with my recent post-its for Mark Todd, which I enjoyed very much. 

I set out to construct a little collage, assisted by Professor Photoshop. The blue paper is a high end colored paper, and I built the waves in multiple layers and intentionally emphasized the shadows behind each layer. A few details.