Design: BusinessWeek's Unpaid Competition to Design IN

My friend Aparna Ranjan sent me this mail about the controversy surrounding the debut of INside Innovation, a new magazine from BusinessWeek that promises "a deep, deep dive into the innovation/design/creativity space."


She quotes:
"For probably the first time ever a leading publication has designed it's magazine through an honorary pitch – a competition between mag-design giants (so to speak). The idea being maybe, to get fresh ideas and boost innovation, among others.
(Read views of Nussbaum, an assistant managing editor, who spearheaded BusinessWeek's coverage of design and innovation for years, in this article: Backstory: How We Designed The New INside Innovation Magazine.)
Many in the design community see this as an outrage--a leading publication getting a magazine designed for free and calling it innovation. It is quite a heated debate to follow.
One reaction: "so let me get this straight: BusinessWeek wants to launch a magazine to the mass business market about the value of design and innovation, and how businesses can better utilize designers services, and then asks four of the top design firms in the country to work for free. does anyone else see the cruel irony in this?"
A detailed (also well written) contrary view can be read on Design Observer

INside Innovation is expected to be a quarterly at first, stitched inside BusinessWeek with issue #1 hitting the stands on June 9, with two more issues for '06.