How do you show Vladimir Putin—a deliberate and calculating persecutor of minorities in his own country—as Person of the Year, without having to explain your choice? We approached this several ways, before deciding on the provocative placement of the cover line. It was a statement, and one we felt justified as a reference to the way in which Putin’s transgressions had gone relatively unpunished. The image was not altered in any way (despite some fevered blogs claiming otherwise); we just had the colors match the old propaganda images of the wartime era.
I think this was a really cool cover with an interesting message. One critique I have, although, is the fact that, even though he said the image was not altered at all, it looks like it was. I believe that it wasn't altered and they just tried to change the colors, but maybe make it more obvious next time that the image has not been altered from its original state. One more critique is that I think the portrait is a little under exposed, and it might not be bright enough. That isn't too much of a problem though because I'm pretty sure that the darker face was the designer trying to convey the theme more.
The main reason why I chose this photo as my favorite because of the powerful message. It is obvious that the editors of the magazine don't agree with Vladimir Putin winning Person of The Year, but they still reported it, just using their own dark twist. The background is completely black, and the portrait is of Putin looking serious and kind of sinister. They also brilliantly compared Putin to Adolf Hitler by putting the "person of the year" label on his upper lip, a nod to Hitler's famous mustache.
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