Richard Turley unveils covers and fake ads for satire mag Spy’s US election special run

Political satire publication Spy magazine has returned for the month leading up to the US presidential election, launched by Esquire and designed by Wieden+Kennedy. Richard Turley, who left MTV recently to become executive creative director of content and editorial design at W+K, has been leading design for the project, creating covers and fake ads for the magazine’s temporary online comeback.

The covers are unashamedly mocking and provocative, ranging from a pot-bellied, half-naked “locker room” Trump, to Hillary leading Bill Clinton – with a gaffer-taped mouth and crotch – on a leash. The ads are even braver, parodying infamous and controversial aspects of both campaigns. One advertises a mobile game called “Millennial Crush”, depicting a manic-eyed Hillary with the tagline “Young people like apps right?” Others are selling “Vulgicene”, a medication for small hands, and “Alt-Right bleach, that “cleans, disinfects and removes unwanted colors”.

Richard worked with designer Alis Attwell and Jesse Corinella on four of the five covers, dedicating two each to Trump and Hillary, and one to Norman Rockwell, with an illustration by David Parkins.

One of the co-founders of the original magazine, which launched 30 years ago, Kurt Andersen wrote in Esquire: “Back in the late 80s and early 90s, Spy magazine pretty much had the American satirical-journalism field all to itself.” Commenting on its short-term return he writes: “It’s as if Spy, a retired superhero, is making a brief but necessary comeback.”