Publication as Parody

Courtesy of The Colbert Report, Comedy Central

A few years ago, we were – as we often were – up against Pentagram for the redesign of a presitigious (if unglamorous) publication for doctors. The New England Journal of Medicine is, to physycians, what Vogue is for fashionistas; the ne plus ultra of its printed kind. Even now, in an age that is likely to be remembered for its obsessive connection to screen-based media, these magazines have real currency.

When we realized we were bidding against Pentagram (indeed, against Michael Bierut, our partner in Design Observer) we did what we aleays did: we went in on the job together. It proved, indeed, to be as unsexy as we´d anticipated, but we were fearless, and reshaped the magazine as best we could within the confines of what was a serious and fairly straightforward audience. (Michael later observed that the hardest part was figuring out to hyphenate all those lengthy pharmaceutical compounds. Don´t ask.)

Fast forward to this past spring, when a pitch-perfect parody of a NEJM cover appeared – of all places –as a prop for Stephen Colbert on his television show. The parody was superbly produced, expertly aping our color and type choices, and our intial reaction was pride: fifteen seconds of fame was upon us, and on national television, no less! 

But on sober reflection, the concept of mimicry and parody does go deeper, and in a world where image acquisition is within such effortless reach. Colbert´s appropriation aside (we are still thrilled) It does beg the question: when does copying become inappropriate, or unethical, or illegal? We´ll be posting more about this sort of thing in the coming months, and welcome your input as we do so.