In the title of “A Johnson Publishing Story,” the new exhibition looking at the longtime powerhouse of African-American print media, the indefinite article is key.
This does not purport to be “the” story of Johnson Publishing, the maker of Ebony and Jet magazine, among other titles, that in the early 1970s moved into a building at 820 S. Michigan Ave. and let a distinctive design aesthetic flow throughout, each floor of the building getting its own motif.