WIRED MAGAZINE: Sex in the Digital Age

Credits & Description:

Agency: Wired
Client: Wired
Design Director Caleb Bennett
Executive Creative Director Billy Sorrentino
Senior Photo Editor Anna Goldwater Alexander
Publishing Company Wired
WIRED’s first-ever sex issue celebrated physical intimacy and technological connection, and it was full of surprises. Starting with the cover: a neon-bright field of color surrounding a small text message bubble with two suggestive emoji, and another showing the three dots that appear as someone types a reply. The dots were printed in silver ink so that as the magazine bends and moves they appear to animate. This was the intro to an issue full of unexpected perspectives on sex in the digital age. We told readers about demisexuality, a term that describes people who choose not to have sex. And Redbook, a site that enabled sex workers and johns to find each other. Then there’s the tale of a woman who found out that her romance was over thanks to a connected bathroom scale. Throughout the issue, first-person stories offered compelling, voyeuristic insights on everything from seduction by Spotify to gender-neutral dating. A photo essay featured the actual racy images that got photographers kicked off Instagram. Sex may be a familiar subject, but our approach was fresh and surprising. And it began with a visually bold yet concise cover.