NZ Marketing’s issue 85 cover features fingerprints from the actual people who make the magazine. Staff from editorial as well as designers and even prepress people from our printer and parent company SCG lent their thumbs to the project.
Why did we choose fingerprints to illustrate the cover? Our main story for this issue is all about how – especially in this age of AI and ‘digital everything’ – the human touch is vital. Creative ideas from real people are the secret to audience connection, so it made sense to highlight individuality. And what’s more individual than a thumb print?
The pop art treatment
Illustrating articles about ideas isn’t always easy – a picture of real things can limit readers’ imaginations while stock art can be, well, dull. And in this case especially, something AI-generated wasn’t going to cut it at all!
We liked the thumb print idea, and couldn’t shake the notion that pop art – which plays with the tension between industrial production and one-off “artworks” – was the ideal style to convey the message.
This story is about NZ Marketing magazine issue 85, Dec 2025-Feb 2026. Why not subscribe? Get four issues a year for just $50 (including delivery) if you autorenew.
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