From the Publisher

By Robert L. Miller

It was a Friday nine weeks ago, and another issue of TIME was headed toward the presses. Suddenly came the news that Emperor Hirohito of Japan had died. As the magazine's editorial staff tore up its story list to accommodate several pages of an obituary, makeup editor Charlotte Quiggle faced a different kind of revision. Her job is to develop a plan for the sequence of all the editorial and advertising pages each week so they make a smoothly readable magazine. TIME's advertising staff immediately told Japanese advertisers that they were free, if they wished, to cancel ads in that issue as a mark of deference. Several Japanese companies did so, leaving three blank pages. Within hours Quiggle rejuggled the book, as it is called, into a successful new combination. "Every week brings a unique set of problems," she says. "The trick is to solve them quickly."

This trick seems to come easily to Quiggle, who joined TIME in 1979 and served as cover art researcher from 1980 to 1984 and deputy makeup editor from 1981 to 1986. She became makeup editor three years ago, but claims her natural affinity for the work goes back much further. "As a kid I seldom lost at bridge. That's why I got the job," she says half jokingly. "It requires a knack for puzzle solving." Not to mention diplomacy and stamina. Quiggle works closely with the magazine's advertising staff to help coordinate the fast-moving mix of articles and ads that appears in TIME and its nine international editions.

Overall, Quiggle is guided by one rule: Emphasize the editorial design. Beyond that, there are only a few absolutes, such as the requirement that only the first news section and the cover story must open with at least five consecutive editorial pages. One of Quiggle's most delicate duties is to separate stories and ads on similar subjects. "You don't put a story about an air crash on the same page or the facing page with an airline ad," she explains.

When a conflict between an ad and an article does arise, the ad is usually the one to be moved. "Makeup is where church ((our editorial staff)) meets state ((our business interests))," says Quiggle, but given her skills (we do not recommend challenging her at backgammon, either), that's only one more solvable puzzle.