Was Hunter Thompson's Illustrator the LA Times' Secret Consultant for Their New Redesign?

Posted by Jan Frel, AlterNet at 5:24 PM on August 13, 2009.

Ralph Steadman, I caught you. Hunter S. Thompson is now long dead, and you've got nothing left to prove in the illustration world. So you became an adept webdesigner you're are a believer in the white-space zen style for webmagazines and your proposal was just what LA Times was looking for. You did a very nice job for the genre, but like any person with an alter ego, you couldn't help but leave your trademark ink splotch at the bottom of the home page. 

Splotch at the bottom of the new LA Times.com: 

Steadman at work, caught in flagrante:

See more of Steadman's style here. Of course, it's probably just a coding bug -- or as one friend suggested, perhaps some kind of digital watermark to prevent content theft. Stay tuned, and I'll try to find out. 

Tagged as: redesign, la times, ralph steadman