Pressing Forward
[caption id="attachment_1815" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Pressing the new nameplate"]
[/caption]
By the time you’re reading this, you will have no doubt noticed that your trusty old Alcalde looks quite different. For the first time in more than a decade, it has been redesigned from cover to cover.
Throughout the reimagining process, we tried to let our goals for the magazine inform our design choices. First and foremost among them is keeping Texas Exes connected to The University of Texas. We want you to find the magazine useful, relevant, and interesting. We want you to anticipate getting it. And we want you to read it—and then set it on the coffee table for your friends to read!
Our stories typically fall into three categories: news about campus, alumni stories, and news from the Association. Not coincidentally, the magazine has three main sections: 40 Acres, which covers campus news; TXEX, focused on alumni and Association news; and our features, where we highlight in depth the most fascinating stories relevant to the University and the people who love it. As you flip through this issue, see if you don’t find it easier to know where you are, what kinds of stories you’re reading, and what other stories await you on our newly launched Alcalde website.
Perhaps the most important change is to the cover. Our talented new designers at EmDash showed us six options, each with a different vibe. There was one that looked like an academic journal, one that looked more Southwestern, and one that struck us all as looking like a student publication.
Then there was the one we chose. To us, it looked neither too modern, nor too old. The area above the nameplate, called the skyscraper, updated but alluded to a traditional newsy sensibility. The main area below the nameplate left room and flexibility to showcase great art for the cover story. Then there was the nameplate itself.
Turns out that particular cut, a version of the famous Caslon family of type, has a UT connection. In 1966, a man named Rob Roy Kelly sold his vast collection of 19th century wood types to the Harry Ransom Center, where it sat in a basement for almost 30 years. In 1993, the HRC was thinking of ditching the collection when someone from the design program discovered it and arranged for it to be loaned to the Art Department. Now it’s used to teach students the history of typography.
According to design professor David Shields, this particular cut of Caslon was made sometime between 1890 and 1910 by Hamilton Manufacturing Co., the last big wood-type maker in the United States. And this particular set, with its tiny imperfections in the wood, is unique to The University of Texas.
Believe me when I tell you that very rarely in matters of design do six people agree on anything. In this case, our team of editors and designers concurred this was the best fit to represent the rich tradition of The Alcalde and carry it forward.
One final word: it is our belief that UT’s alumni magazine should reflect the ambition of the institution. A university of the first class deserves a magazine of the first class. There are many reasons to take pride in being a graduate of UT. We try to give you lots of them in each issue. Our hope is that every time you open your mailbox and find this magazine waiting, it will offer yet another reason to be glad you went to The University of Texas.
