About Communication Arts

Communication Arts

Communication Arts (CA) is the largest international trade journal of visual communication. Founded in 1959 by Richard Coyne and Robert Blanchard, the magazine's coverage includes graphic design, advertising, photography, illustration, typography, and interactive media. Based in Menlo Park, California, and published by Coyne & Blanchard, Inc., it is edited and published under the guidance of Coyne's son Patrick Coyne. The magazine publishes six issues a year and hosts six creative competitions. Its official website is commarts.com, and its ISSN is 0010-3519.

Currently, Communication Arts publishes six issues a year and hosts six creative competitions in graphic design, advertising, photography, illustration, typography, and interactive media, along with two websites, commarts.com and creativehotlist.com. It is the leading professional journal for graphic designers and art directors, and the world's largest journal of visual communication.

Publication at a Glance

Communication Arts is a bi-monthly English-language magazine based in Menlo Park, California, published by Coyne & Blanchard, Inc. Circulation was about 21,000 as of 2021, down from 59,429 in 2009. The first issue debuted in August 1959 as the Journal of Commercial Art. Among a number of innovations, it was the first U.S. magazine printed by offset lithography.

Founding in 1959

In 1959, Richard Coyne and Bob Blanchard published the first issue of Communication Arts magazine, a trade journal for the visual-communications industry. Within six months, the magazine's paid circulation grew to 10,000 — an extraordinary start for a specialty trade journal. The first issue debuted in August 1959 as the Journal of Commercial Art, and the magazine was the first in the United States printed by offset lithography — a technical innovation that suited a publication devoted to the visual arts.

After Blanchard left to go into business by himself, Coyne — along with his wife Jean and a small staff — continued to write, design, and produce the magazine. Eventually, paid circulation increased to 38,000. The Coyne family's stewardship of the magazine has now spanned more than six decades and two generations.

Patrick Coyne

The magazine continues to be edited and published under the guidance of Richard Coyne's son Patrick Coyne (b. 1957), who serves as publisher, editor, and designer. Prior to joining the magazine in 1986, Patrick Coyne studied at the California College of the Arts, worked for Michael Mabry Design and SBG Partners, and established the multi-discipline, San Francisco-based design firm Patrick Coyne Stephanie Steyer Design Office.

Coyne is the recipient of several awards for design and art direction, including a silver medal from the Society of Illustrators. In 2004, he received AIGA's Design Leadership Award, and in 2012 he was named an AIGA/San Francisco Fellow. He lectures widely on the history and philosophy of the magazine, how its competitions work, and how creatives are chosen for profiles — presenting selections of award-winning design and advertising projects produced on limited budgets and discussing the future of creativity.

The AIGA Recognition

In 2004, the AIGA recognized the Coyne family's contribution to American graphic design: Richard Coyne (1926–1990, posthumous), Jean Coyne (b. 1928), and Patrick Coyne (b. 1957) were honored together as publishers in the AIGA's centennial timeline of American graphic design — placing the family among the medalists of the profession alongside figures such as Charles Coiner, Kit Hinrichs, Walter Landor, and Alex Steinweiss.

The Six Competitions

Communication Arts hosts six annual creative competitions in graphic design, advertising, photography, illustration, typography, and interactive media. Winning work is published in the magazine's annuals — among the most coveted showcases in the design profession — and the competitions are a central part of the magazine's identity, celebrating the top work in each discipline each year.

Editorial Coverage

The magazine's coverage spans graphic design, advertising, photography, illustration, typography, and interactive media. Issues are thoroughly illustrated, showcasing consumer magazine and newspaper ads, trade ads, posters, sales promotion, self-promotion, public service work, radio and television commercials, features, and columns. The magazine profiles leading creatives and studios, and its pages serve as a record of the best visual communication being produced worldwide.

Digital Presence

The magazine operates two websites: commarts.com, the magazine's online home with current-issue content and competition information, and creativehotlist.com, a career resource for the creative industry. The digital editions extend the magazine's reach to the global design community, complementing the six print issues per year.

Early Growth

The magazine's early growth was explosive: within six months of the first issue, paid circulation reached 10,000. Today the publication is described as the leading visual-culture magazine, showcasing the top work in graphic design, advertising, illustration, photography, and interactive design. After Blanchard's departure, Richard Coyne — with his wife Jean and a small staff — wrote, designed, and produced the magazine himself; paid circulation eventually climbed to 38,000. The trajectory from a two-man startup to the world's largest journal of visual communication was built on the magazine's dual engine: editorial showcases of the best work, and the competitions that surfaced it.

The Annuals

The six competitions produce six annuals — the Design Annual, Advertising Annual, Photography Annual, Illustration Annual, Typography Annual, and Interactive Annual — each a thick, thoroughly illustrated volume collecting the year's winning work. Past annuals, such as the Photography Annual 1990 (Vol. 32, No. 4) and the May/June 1995 issue (Vol. 37, No. 2), remain in circulation through booksellers, documenting decades of visual-communication history. For working designers and art directors, appearing in a Communication Arts annual is one of the profession's most coveted honors.

Coyne on the Road

Patrick Coyne is a fixture of the design lecture circuit, speaking on the history and philosophy of the magazine, how its competitions work, and how creatives are chosen for profiles. His talks — with titles like "Graphic Design Today: Avoiding the Mullet" — present selections of award-winning design and advertising projects produced on limited budgets, offering practical lessons alongside inspiration. He has lectured at venues including SCAD Atlanta, Virginia Commonwealth University (sponsored by AIGA Richmond), and Sacramento's Art Directors and Artists Club, and conducts portfolio reviews for AIGA student members — extending the magazine's educational mission beyond its pages.

As the Sacramento News & Review noted, the publication is today "the leading visual-culture magazine, showcasing the top work in graphic design, advertising, illustration, photography and interactive design." Its pages serve as both inspiration and benchmark: the annuals and the bi-monthly issues together form a continuous record of the best visual communication being produced worldwide — a record that has now run, uninterrupted, for more than six decades under the Coyne family's stewardship.

The magazine's ISSN is 0010-3519. Its two websites — commarts.com, the magazine's online home, and creativehotlist.com, a career resource for the creative industry — extend the brand's reach to the global design community, complementing the six print issues published each year from Menlo Park, California.

Today the publication is described as the leading visual-culture magazine — a standing built over more than six decades of continuous publication from Menlo Park.

Official Website

The magazine's official website is https://www.commarts.com, carrying current issues, competition details, and the magazine's archive. Founded in 1959 by Richard Coyne and Robert Blanchard and still guided by the Coyne family from Menlo Park, California, Communication Arts remains the leading professional journal for graphic designers and art directors.