How Our Best of RI 2023 Neon Sign Cover Came Together
The neon sign was created by local neon artist Knox Neon and displayed with cocktails at Clementine Cocktail Bar.
Every year, our Rhode Island Monthly art and edit team tries to come up with a creative cover idea for our annual Best of Rhode Island issue. It is our biggest and most popular issue of the year, thanks to the hundreds of hard-working and deserving small businesses – this year a record-breaking 417! – that earn a spot on our awards list through the Readers’ Poll and Editors’ Picks. Plus, the cover is featured on plaques that are given to award winners and displayed in their places of business for years to come. We need the cover to be colorful, and we need it to resonate with a wide audience. For 2023, we came up with the best idea I think we’ve ever had for a cover.
This is how it all came together:
I was out and about in Providence visiting the new Deadbeats bar in the former E&O Tap space. The owners Courtney Tallarico and Jeff Angell were so happy with their new neon sign behind the bar, which is hot pink and features an expletive about how many of us feel after a long day. I sat there talking with Courtney and joked about how we should have the sign be the cover for our next magazine. We laughed about it, and I said it certainly would sell a lot of copies.
The following week, we had a staff meeting during which we brainstormed ideas for photography for the Best of RI Editors’ Picks section. I knew that I wanted to photograph the interior at Deadbeats, (including the most popular guy in Providence, their fiberglass Ronald McDonald statue sitting on a bench). We decided to send our photographer Wolf Matthewson to Deadbeats, which was an Editors’ Pick award winner, but I noted that we probably couldn’t have him include a photo of that neon sign with the f-bomb in it. I laughed and said again, sarcastically, how it would make a great cover.
That’s when my colleague, associate editor Lauren Clem, mentioned that Origin Beer Project also had a new neon sign created for their business. We talked about the popularity of the neon signs and then Lauren said, “What if we looked into having one made with the Best of RI lettering for the cover?”
It was genius. We each separately reached out to Deadbeats and the Origin Beer Company and found out the names of local neon artists. Both businesses mentioned Knox Neon as an option. While Knox didn’t create the pink expletive sign at Deadbeats, he is working on another one for the bar, and he had created the signs for Origin Beer Project, Little Sister, Pizza J and others. In mid-May, our art director, Doreen Chisnell, then reached out to the artist, Andrew Knox, to see how much it would cost to build such a sign, and if he would have the time to do it by our cover deadline.
“The one cool idea that came about was to have a neon sign made that said BEST OF RI and photograph the final piece/place it in a funky bar environment,” said Chisnell in an email to Knox. “We did not know if that would be doable, which is why we are contacting you! We were not sure what the cost would be to make it, or time needed for the artist to create it.”
Knox wrote back right away. “This is a great concept and I would love to work on it with you! To get an idea of cost, I’d need to draw up a couple mock ups for scale and complexity,” he wrote. “Do you have a logo you’d like me to base the design on? Once we decide on the look and feel, I’d need about 4-6 [weeks] to make and deliver the sign.”
We went back and forth for a few days on the design, color scheme and pricing, and ultimately landed on a simple Best of RI logo on two lines with a star in blue and yellow to make it pop on a dark background. Knox Neon agreed to have the sign completed by June 19. We needed to photograph the sign in time to have the photos color corrected and the cover finished by a certain date in order to make all of the plaques for the award winners for the Best of RI party on July 20 at Providence Performing Arts Center.
The next question was where to shoot it? We knew we wanted some colorful cocktails on the cover with the sign, but the bar had to have bright lighting and a clean background. I had just been to Clementine Cocktail Bar in Providence, another Editors’ Pick award winner, and I loved the innovative drinks made by Cristian Cantaragiu. I suggested that we see if we could shoot the sign there on the bar or on the brick backdrop with several of Cristian’s colorful cocktails. There’s a smoky kiwi drink on the menu, the Bitter-Tai Kiwi, that is made with an edible cocktail bubble on top that, once punctured, gives off a scented aroma and smoke.
We reached out to Cantaragiu and scheduled the photo shoot for June 20 at Clementine. Knox brought the completed sign directly to Clementine and worked with us to install it and light it up on the bar. It was already positioned on a stand which made it easier to have it in the background with the cocktails in front, so we didn’t need to hang it. Our fabulous cover photographer Angel Tucker artfully arranged the sign in the background with the bright cocktails in the foreground. They decided to pop the bubble on the drink to add an air of smokiness to the shot.
Once the photo was complete, Tucker sent it over to our art and production department. Our digital imaging specialist, Al DiPetrillo, color corrected the image to make it stand out even brighter. I completed the cover lines, and then the cover was off to our marketing department. They sent the completed image over to Providence Picture Frame to create all the plaques for the 417 winners. All of the plaques were delivered to our office a few days before the event took place.
When you see this neon cover featured on all the 2023 Best of RI award winners’ plaques, displayed on the walls of businesses all over the state, now you will know how much work went into it and how many people it took to put the whole thing together.
The neon sign will proudly be displayed in our office, so we can remember this cover for years to come. And, of course, Knox Neon also earned a Best of RI Editors’ Pick award of their own.
