Sue Apfelbaum

Def Jam, the Ramones, Wu-Tang Clan, DFA, and more: The story behind nearly two dozen of the most iconic logos in New York music history.

In verdant White Lake, New York, near where Woodstock took place, the seeds of thrash-metal band Anthrax’s visual identity were first planted. Though he grew up in Rockland County, guitarist Dan Spitz and his family would spend summers upstate, and through his older brother Dave – later a bassist for Black Sabbath – he became friends with a local teen named ...

This a feature story I wrote for Surface Magazine (Sept 2012) about artist Jacob Hashimoto's collaboration with Maharam Digital Projects. The focus is on "How It's Made" and the elaborate process of transforming Hashimoto's massive three-dimensional sculptures into two-dimensional mural-wallpaper hybrids.

Logo Design and the Rewards of Doing Real Journalis...

For the 2014 Advertising Annual, I profiled Code and Theory, the creative agency behind editorial sites for Interview, The Daily Beast, and the Los Angeles Times, as well as content-driven campaigns for brands such as Dr. Pepper and Maybelline.

I co-authored this book about editorial design across media, featuring 26 interviews, 19 case studies, and a straightforward set of principles for designing serial reading experiences on any platform.

Connie Zhou applies a documentary approach to architectural photography and was fascinating to profile for CA's May/June 2014 issue.

I wrote about rising-star illustrator Victo Ngai for the March/April issue of Communication Arts.

An essay I wrote on Medium about how a ticket scam almost kept me from seeing one of the most meaningful rock shows of my life.

This is a story I wrote about designer, educator, and illustrator Ryan Feerer for Adobe's inspiration blog, Design Center (now Inspire).

An interview with award-winning filmmaker Mike Mills, who began his career as a graphic designer. Although he did many interviews for his movie Beginners, this was the only one that addressed how design has influenced his approach to making films.

For the March/April 2013 issue I profiled illustrator Ellen Weinstein. Her insightful work for such publications as The New York Times, The Atlantic, TIME, and The Washington Post, makes ample use of vibrant color and draws on her collections of vintage photographs, postcards, and memorabilia.

This is a short piece I wrote for LEMON 5, focused on the King of Pop. I interviewed Kehinde Wiley about his portrait commission for Michael Jackson, who died before it was completed.

The P! Gallery founder and Project Projects principal talks about curating art and ideas from a design perspective.

The Anthrax logo explained. Issue 3, April 30, 2013.