The December 2012 cover of Psychology Today

Where have we seen this before?

While stumbling upon the cover of the December 2012 issue of Psychology Today (pictured), which shows a white woman’s face covered in writing, we couldn’t help but think of the billboards from the Un-Fair Campaign that launched earlier in the year.

Did the magazine take a page out of the Duluth ad campaign’s book?

Eh? was unsuccessful in attempting to reach the magazine’s art director, but the answer probably is no. Psychology Today had a similar cover for its October 2009 issue, and many of its covers are a close-up of a person’s face, so there’s no telling how many covers have featured faces covered in words.

A billboard for the Unfair Campaign is posted along Second Street near First Avenue East in Duluth in this January 2012 file photo. (2012 file, Bob King / News Tribune)

Then did the Un-Fair Campaign find its inspiration from the magazine? No.

Patrice Bradley, a designer at Swim Creative, which created Un-Fair’s ad campaign, said she hadn’t seen the Psychology Today covers and had used a similar design for previous ads. She said she came up with the idea for the Un-Fair Campaign’s look while using blank white filament paper over a picture of a person’s face; nothing fancy.