That Cool NYT LeBron Cover Was (Sort Of) Inspired By Kanye And Kim

After LeBron James announced that he was returning to Cleveland, The New York Times ran one of the coolest covers we've ever seen on its Saturday sports section. It turns out that the idea behind the cover was indirectly inspired by Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, because of course it was.

Co.Design got in touch with NYT deputy sports editor Jason Stallman, who explained how the cover came together:

"The New York Post covered Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's wedding in very unlikely un-tabloid fashion," Stallman tells Co.Design. "You think they'd go wild, but instead they did a small, brief very mean-spirited and snarky announcement."

[Graphics editor Kevin] Quealy had the idea to cover Lebron's huge announcement in a similarly understated style. "By the end of the day, against all the hype about the Lebron decision, we wanted to go in the totally opposite direction. Most publications had big displays about Lebron, with huge photographs and headlines. We wanted the simplest, crudest possible representation of what happened." Designer Ben Hoffman toyed around with various layouts, and the team fell in love with the idea of using a clipping of the transaction section against a large white space.

So maybe Kanye West isn't full of shit when he talks about how our entire culture revolves around him.