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Communication Arts

American trade journal

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 2, 2025
Entity authorityQ5154089
Source-derived summary

Communication Arts (acronym: CA) is the largest international trade journal of visual communication. Founded in 1959 by Richard Coyne and Robert Blanchard, the magazine's coverage includes graphic design, advertising, photography, illustration, typography and interactive media. The magazine continues to be edited and published under the guidance of Coyne's son Patrick Coyne. Currently, Communication Arts publishes six issues a year and hosts six creative competitions in graphic design, advertising, photography, illustration, typography and interactive media and two websites, commarts.com and creativehotlist.com.

History

The magazine was established in 1959. The first issue debuted in August 1959 as the Journal of Commercial Art. Among a number of innovations, it was the first U.S. magazine printed by offset lithography.

After Blanchard left to go into business by himself, Coyne, along with his wife Jean and a small staff, continued to write, design, and produce the magazine. Eventually, paid circulation increased to 38,000.

As of 2021, CA's paid circulation was about 21,000, down from 59,429 in 2009.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Communication Arts” is american trade journal. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Communication, Arts and American, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1959, 2021, 2009—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1959-01-01, 1959-08—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. For this dossier, Communication, Arts and American is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “american trade journal” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 2, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q5154089. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1959, 2021 and 2009.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Communication Arts”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Communication Arts primary sources, Communication Arts archive and Communication research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Communication Arts”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Communication Arts” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.