About Esquire Magazine
Esquire is America's most-iconic mid-century men's lifestyle magazine, founded by David A. Smart in Chicago in 1933 and elevated to design legend by art director George Lois between 1962 and 1972 with 92 conceptual covers — including the Muhammad Ali "Passion" cover of 1968.
The aesthetic is mid-century-modern editorial: warm cream paper, saturated red, deep saturated black, generous letter-spacing on serifs, and conceptual-graphic compositions. It pairs the punch of a Lois cover with the literary cadence of Tom Wolfe and Gay Talese's New Journalism.
- Origin
- Chicago / New York, USA
- Era
- founded 1933; peak George Lois art-direction 1962–1972; ongoing
- Key figures
- David A. Smart · George Lois · Harold Hayes · Tom Wolfe · Gay Talese
- Movements
- mid-century-modern editorial · New Journalism · American magazine canon
Esquire Magazine design spec
Colors
Typography
The other 11 sections — buttons, cards, spacing, motion, techniques and more — open once you unlock. Download the DESIGN.md or send it to your AI in one click. Unlock once, yours forever.
Sign up nowStyles similar to Esquire Magazine
Also inspired by brands & products, with a close feel.
El Al Israel Airlines (1959)National blue takes command. White aircraft geometry cuts a flat jet-age poster sky.
LIFE Magazine (Red-Banner)Photojournalism stripped bare. One red banner, cream newsprint, stark black plates.
Premier League (1992)Heraldry meets the results page. Aubergine, pitch green and gold frame tabular scores.
Studio Misr Cairo (1935)Egyptian cinema's golden age, gilded. Silver-nitrate brown, Deco gold frames, Arabic over Latin caps.