Do You See What I See?

Michael Bierut of Design Observer noticed a visual pun in the Abbott Miller cover art from the November 29 issue of the NYTBR, accompanying Liesl Schillinger‘s review of Against the Day. How about you?

I have to admit, the fact that these tumblers are spelling out “Pynchon” (as in Thomas Pynchon) completely eluded me when I read the review three weeks ago, but I feel a little less foolish knowing Bierut had the same problem. The funny thing, he reports, is that everybody at the Review got the joke immediately. Turns out there’s a scientific reason for that: “[The] editors already knew what Miller’s acrobats were doing: they were illustrating Liesl Schillinger’s review of Against the Day. They saw Pynchon because they were looking for him.”

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.