Smash Hits

A title where more was more! I was art director of Emap's Smash Hits Australia in Sydney for about a year working with a fun small team.

The target market was tweens and the Editor increasingly pitched towards girls, at a time when pop chased reality TV for its next star. This inevitably led to shoots with Australian Idol stars, as shown here with the Antony cover, as well as features on make-up and fashion. About a year or so later the UK mother edition closed, followed by the Australian edition not long after.

For such a strong brand it was a shame Emap had lost its way with it by shifting away from the core interest of its readers – music.