Report – Magazine Design

In this assignment I have created a magazine called Vision Earth. In doing this, the layout, typography, colours, photography and illustrations, and other visual elements have been very important. The magazine should appeal to its target audience, and there is a visual identity running through the entire magazine, as well as in each of the articles.

I’m happy with the finished product. This assignment has probably been one of the most time consuming I’ve had so far, as I put a lot of time and effort into creating many illustrations in particular. This is a process which always takes a lot of time, since I usually aim for my illustrations to be pretty realistic. I do think the final images I have come up with both suit the magazine, and have the feeling I want them to.

I’m glad I have been able to create a visual similarity throughout the magazine, but at the same time each article also has its unique theme, so to speak. This makes it easy for readers to follow and always know what content belongs to which article.

My process has been very thorough in my opinion. I have done sketches both by hand and digitally, I have researched other magazines, and I have looked for inspiration both online and in other books. Most of the time I have also had a pretty good communication with tutors, to make sure I got feedback from others than myself.

The magazine as it ended up is quite different from what I first pictured it, but I really do believe all the changes I have made, and the ideas I have come up with benefit it. Vision Earth’s identity should come across, and I personally think it speaks to the target group. Some elements may seem a little “simple” or “childish” at times, but I think this only helps make the content seem a little less daunting to get through.

– This is an extract from the report I submitted, and the whole report, including the magazine, can be read here: REPORT –

Until next time, stay creative
Monika

Magazine Research

As part of my research I had a look through five magazines for some inspiration. All these magazines’ content is about the outdoors.

Perspektiv by Widerøe builds on a 2 or 3 column grid most of the time, and a sans serif font for the most part, with a serif font for the larger headings. This magazine is strongly affected by ads.

Fjell og Vidde by Den Norske Turistforening mainly uses a 2, 3 or 4 column grid, and has strong imagery. A serif font is used for body copy, and a sans serif font for headings, introductions, by-lines, and captions. Quite a few colours are in use, but it seems as though black and white, and red and blue are the most dominant. Lines help separate content where needed, and a > is placed to tell the reader that an article continues on the next page.

Fjell by Nasjonalparkriket seems uses many different columns, but I think that’s because they use a flexible grid which gives them many options. It looks as though the 3 column grid is the dominant. A sans serif font is used for body copy, while the headings vary. Red is the main colour, with a touch of orange.

UTE’s (by Utemagasinet) strongest quality is the imagery, and it has a more consistent use of 2 or 3 column grids. As Fjell og Vidde, UTE has a serif font for body copy, and a sans serif font for the rest.

Finally, Opplev Mer by Vefsn Kommune is a “Welcome to” magazine, made to tell tourists what they can do in Mosjøen, Norway. The magazine has a lot of ads, and also uses a 2 or 3 column grid, with a serif font for body copy, and sans serif for the remaining text.

I did this a while ago though, and since this I’ve done quite a lot of work on the layout of the article pages.

Until next time, stay creative,
Monika

Magazine Content

When starting this assignment, the first thing I did was to read through the articles. This way I got a good understanding of what they were all about, and I could choose which ones I wanted to use. It also gave me ideas in regards to what illustrations and photographs I could use. So I’ve spent quite a lot of time illustrating, and going through both old and new photographs I’ve taken.

Articles

A Mom’s Guide to Decluttering: Why My Kids Gave Up Almost All Their Toys

Photograph I took of a doll and some stuffed animals; this is obviously based on the article, and the sentence “By the time we are done, her toys fit into a picnic basket.” Then there’s a drawing I’ve done of a panda bear, which I think just suits the theme in general, and then finally an illustration I did, which should emphasize the beginning of the article, and the mood the writer sets there.

Can We Save Our Planet? What the Climate Movement Can Learn From the Nuclear Freeze Campaign

Since this article mentions New York (Central park), Washington DC, and demonstrations etc., I found a few photographs I’ve taken whilst out travelling, which I thought would suit the article. This is a fairly long article (compared to some of the others), so I think it’s important with a few visual elements to break it up a little.

Staying Human in a Time of Climate Change: New Author On Science, Grief, And Hope

These two illustration are quite different from one another; where one is more life like, and one less detailed. However I think they both explain the topic well. The gradients used are the same as in the Vision Earth logo/masthead.

5 Medicinal Herbs You Can Grow In Your Backyard

The catnip is a digital drawing I did, and then duplicated and added blur, rotated etc., and put on top of a photograph I took a while back. I think this turned out pretty cool. The cup is a photograph from a couple of years back, but is one I feel fits the article.

Big CIty Living May Help You Slow Down, Stress Less, and Be Happy. Really!

Some of the cities mentioned in this article (Tokyo, Barcelona, and Providence) are ones I haven’t been to, so I found those photos on Flickr – those, however are the only photographs/illustrations I’ve borrowed from others, and haven’t done myself. I made my own version of a Cittaslow sign as well, and placed this on a photo I took in Helsinki, and one from somewhere on the road in the US.

Tokio

We Aren’t Alone in Our Cities: 12 Ways Animals Have Adapted to Urban Life

The pigeon and the ground it’s standing on is a digital drawing I did, and then placed on a photo I took in Sydney in 2015. I think this worked great. The other is another digital drawing; a coyote waiting to cross the road.

So this should be most of the content I’ll use in my magazine. I may not use all images, and I still might have to find others, but this is what I’m starting out with. I have already began looking at the layout of the magazine, though. It will be an 8″x11″ magazine, since this is the standard magazine size in the US, and I’m using a 12 column grid. This gives me some flexibility and quite a few options when making my columns.

I’m almost done with my cover pages as well, which feels great.

Until next time, stay creative,
Monika

Magazine Profile Building

Due Week 8, Friday 12.05.17 at 4 pm

The first mandatory assignment of GRA2 is due in a little over two weeks, so I thought I’d make a post presenting the concept I’ve settled on. In this assignment we need to make a strategy and visual concept for a magazine consisting of world issue content. This includes coming up with a name for the magazine and design its masthead/logo, making the layout for the article pages, designing cover pages, and gather or create visual elements such as photographs and illustrations. I’ve decided to call my magazine Vision Earth.

Profile

Vision Earth is a magazine featuring world issue content. The articles explore the biggest problems of today, and solutions. These issues include climate change, poverty, consumerism, and war.

The purpose of the magazine is to encourage people to take action and help the earth. By outlining issues and providing solutions for these, giving a voice to the people looking for change, and offering resources, Vision Earth hopes to reach out to a group willing to stand up for what they believe in, and for a better future.

Vision

Vision Earth wishes to reach a group of at least 150 000 readers every quarter, and the magazine will be sold in bookstores, natural food stores and newsstands both in the US and Canada. Differentiating from many competitors, the magazine is ad-free, and solely relies on tax deductible donations from the readers and foundation grants.

Target Group

Vision Earth’s target group is people in their early 20’s until late 30’s. Whether they’re male or female, they’re interested in the future of the earth, and are willing to accept that something needs to be done to solve the issues we are facing today. These people are visionaries with hopes of a better future, and the interest in doing something to make the necessary changes. They are likely to be environmentalists, meaning they seek “to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities” (Wikipedia).

Since the magazine is sold in the US and Canada, this is the geographical location of the readers. As the magazine offers articles with research, the reading may be their primary source of knowledge in the field. However some may have education related to the topics, and see the magazine as an additional source. Nevertheless, Vision Earth’s readers have an average income, belonging to the middle class.

Masthead/Logo

The masthead communicates Vision Earth’s identity, and makes the magazine recognizable. As described in ThoughtCo, this element “is usually located at the top of the first page and takes up a quarter to a third of the page. It should be distinctively designed to attract the eye.” The font in use is Myriad Pro. The colours are done as gradients, going from #261E5B (dark blue) to #009DE0 (light blue), and #18321A (dark green) to #558635.

This is the selection of my handdrawn scamps that I decided to bring with me into Illustrator.

After illustrating these digitally I made a few changes before I presented my first revision to tutors on the forum, and after a second revision (after feedback) I came up with a design both me and the tutor are happy with.

I think this is one of the strongest designs in terms of it being presented as a masthead. Some of the ideas I had were also kind of childish, and since this doesn’t fit neither my target audience nor the articles (in terms of the writing style) I wished to go with something further from a cartoon feeling. I believe the design I’ve settled on first of all is easy to recognize as being an “earth” magazine, it’s memorable, and also differentiates from some of the competitors. Finally it’s really easy to read, which obviously is important.

Until next time, stay creative,
Monika