Speaking of punch, as the Art Director for Esquire Magazine from 1962 to 1972, George Lois created ninety-two covers that ignited equal parts of controversy and shock. When Lois put Muhammad Ali on the Cover of Esquire Magazine in 1968, buzz reverberated around the world. The Esquire cover depicted the famous boxer as a martyr being pierced by six arrows. The Muhammad Ali cover was only one of many. Other notable images feature Andy Warhol drowning in a giant Campbell's soup can as if he’s been overcome by his own macabre creation; infamous lawyer Roy Cohn with a large sunny halo over his head; scary-looking boxer Sonny Liston wearing an endearing Santa cap; and a smiling Lt. William Calley, who had been found guilty in the My Lai Massacre, surrounded by innocent Vietnamese children.
Social Commentary? Art? Entertainment? Check box (d) for all of the above. The Esquire Covers, collectively, are one of many accomplishments. George Lois has also been the principal of five advertising agencies, and cites as one of the greatest things he has ever done, and one he is the most proud of—leaving Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) to form Papert Koenig Lois. In 1964 it meant something for the Art Director to be elevated to the level of a partner in the agency and get his name on the door. As Lois states, “Art Directors weren’t part of the process. They waited for someone else to give them the concept. Most Art Directors were unambitious, dull and mostly stupid.”
Lois attributes his talent for conjuring brilliant “creative” as simply seizing the big idea from out of the air—and now we’re back to the one-two knockout punch. A good idea well executed takes your breath away and knocks the wind out of your sails. Think about it. When you see a George Lois image, it’s staring you in the face and you simply cannot look away. His May 1968 Esquire cover featured President Richard Nixon with his eyes closed and his head held in repose while he’s being made-up by morticians. Truth be told: Richard Nixon was one of the most unpopular Presidents in U.S. history. Many Americans called him “Tricky Dicky” and wished him ill, a certain political death.
George Lois’ definition of creativity is connected to the realm of another Golden Greek, Plato who defined (idea) as a mental image and a realm of ideas or forms (eidos). “I don’t see that mental image in my head,” George said. “I see it floating by me and I reach out and grab it.” According to Lois, creativity is not created, it is there for us to find and the process becomes an act of discovery. Lois describes his process when faced with a problem and on deadline to create an ad campaign. He doesn’t listen to the market research. He doesn’t get mired down and lost in marketing strategy. He explores the company on his own and leaps straight into the big idea. “I go for the big idea,” he said. “The idea was there all along and waiting to be discovered.”