This was in the works for months. We asked our visual artists and font enthusiasts to play around. And it resulted in this: the fully redesigned San Diego Magazine.

On the cover is a creation by famed California artist, Alexis Smith. One of our favorite works of art, from a creative mind who’s spent her life exploring America’s tabloid heart. It’s Marilyn, who may or may not be objectifying men. A script flipped. And we’re flipping ours.

It’s our issue dedicated to San Diego art and culture-makers. Which fits. Because art is the point of our new look. SDM has a long tradition of providing a home to some of the most twitchy, compelling, alive storytellers in the city. Chroniclers of where we live. Part of that storytelling is visual—the arresting image, the hand-drawn illustration by a local creative.

This year, the city’s art moment that grabbed international headlines was the massive, $105-million reimagining of MCASD in La Jolla by one of the most talented female architects in the world, Annabelle Selldorf (see photo essay, page 72). Having an art compound like that attracts international creative forces, which then raises up the next gen and new voices (“Next Up,” page 68).