Working Girl, Worker Boy magazine covers

1994 - 1996
Offset lithograph
A4, each cover

In the mid 1990s I bought a personal computer which came with Photoshop and Pagemaker, a desktop publishing programme. I had just grasped the fundamentals of electronic page layout when a friend who volunteered at a local agency representing sex workers suggested the organisation would appreciate my services. My time at the Prostitutes Collective of Victoria grew from the occassional collaboration on their publication, Working Girl, Worker Boy magazine, to assuming editorial responsibilities for the magazine and all their publications including a website.

The magazine was monochrome and colour was reserved for making the cover attractive to the readership. Low resolution black and white images were manipulated in Photoshop with only a scant idea as to how the finished cover would look and it was always a relief when the magazines arrived from the printer and the results were pleasing. I felt the appropriate aesthetic for a community organisation magazine dealing with such an unusual clientel was to steer clear from the dull public service look in favour of an edgier style which incorporated some mainstream elements from popular magazine titles.

Collection National Library of Australia

The background of the graphics