Communication Arts

The five regular issues are great, but the three annuals that present a comprehensive gallery of the very best in photography, illustration, design and media for each year have provided me with untold inspiration, practical ideas for problem solving, and have helped me to strive for greater creativity. As a reference tool for style and trends, CA is always featuring the absolute best the market has to offer.

Printed on heavy, gloss stock of near archival quality, every issue is a treasure that more than justifies the price. While each new issues serves as a benchmark for what is happening in the commercial art world, the old issues become time capsules that never seem to loose their appeal. I still delight in reviewing articles and images from 20+ years ago.

CA is a good, but slightly pricey diversion for anybody casually interested in art, photography and advertising. It is a GREAT and invaluable tool for every working professional commercial artist, and worth every penny spent tenfold.


STUDENTS!!   October 9, 2007
Emily Schwarting
17 out of 17 found this review helpful

ATTENTION TO ALL STUDENTS:
If you subscribe to this magazine through the Communication Arts website, you can get a student discount if you send in a copy of your current student ID along with your subscription form. Instead of paying $53, you only pay $39.

Thought that may be helpful to all other struggling college kids!


Important to know what you want   January 25, 2004
Katrina T. Weires (Oregon, United States)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

If you are looking for a design mag with flip-through layouts or edgy underground images, this is probably not the publication for you. If you're on the search for pretty pictures and design inspiration, you'd probably like one or two of the annuals (i.e., Design, Illustration, Photography or Interactive), but not a whole subscription.

Now then, if you don't mind reading and are looking for contemporary and practical insights into the world of commercial print design, CA comes highly recommended. Its value very nearly overshadows its cost, and if you can't afford it, it's well worth harassing family members for a gift subscription.


Expensive Eye-Candy   March 7, 2003
James Hilmar Todd (Aylmer, ON)
12 out of 22 found this review helpful

Visually stunning mag, frequently used for inspiration by graphic designers. Fixated on "new" and "award-winning", at the expensive of "good" design or socially-relevant design. The articles on professional practice are sometimes shallow, sometimes obvious. The style guide for people who manufacture desire.


The only magazine that I keep back copies of!   March 10, 2004
10 out of 13 found this review helpful

As a professional graphic designer and illustrator, I read a lot of the trade magazines, but Communication Arts is the only one I keep back copies of. I have had a subscription to this magazine since my art school days and I still look forward to receiving it in the mail. The magazine is beautifully designed with clean type and the feature articles are always interesting. It is well worth the cost of subscription. Just get it! You won't be sorry.