Creative Director, redefined

[Response]: "The September Issue"

Tuesday's design class was such a nice surprise - we spent those two hours watching one of my favorite movies, "The September Issue," as a group. Even after seeing this movie for possibly 12th time, I still find new things to learn from the film. This film helps to emphasize that, above all, the creative director fulfills the magazine's editorial vision through all creative and visual aspects: photography, fashion, art and all visual themes that stem from there. They are in charge of all visual interpretation/direction. The creative director of Vogue, Grace Coddington, did one particular feature on the 1920s. The fashion, the setting and even the type of photography and the style of photos were based on a particular designer – John Galliano – and his couture, 1920s-inspired pieces.

The editor takes the creative director's editorial vision and inspiration and edits it in several ways, but particularly to fit the magazine and its mission and also to git the magazine as a particular way as well (size, degree, etc.), and also to  put them in check. The creative director, however, shows the editor how to visualize an idea or concept as part of the magazine.

Vogue Creative Director Grace Coddington and Editor in Chief Anna Wintour

[Critique]: Shindig final prototype for publishing presentation

Shindig prototype cover

Shindig prototype department page

Shindig prototype feature spread

Shindig prototype color palette

I wanted the design overall to appear stylish, modern and fresh, but above all, make the magazine’s content appear “do-able” and attainable to a wider audience, grabbing the attention of more than just the readers who already have an invested interest in learning more about entertaining; This particular type of magazine deserves its own unique and apparent style and in creating a clear sense of style and consistent vision for each issue, the magazine is better able to establish the Shindig brand; Adding textural elements to the design is just one example of ways to make the magazine feel more relateable and attainable to its readers, rather than sticking with the structured, static design of many of its potential competitors.

For the logo, I wanted a young, fresh and inviting for this young professional audience – its casual, playful script help to emphasize this; its design helps to appeal to a large part of the magazine’s mission: to be “for the entertainer in all of us.”

I wanted the cover shots to be fresh and stylish to reflect the type of parties/entertaining concepts that our readers would aspire to have but more importantly, that don’t seem out of their reach; cover is both inviting and appealing; design is stylish and chic without being stuffy – we want to attract even those who might not necessarily be looking to read something on entertaining, but also appear relevant to those readers who do already entertain and want a magazine that serves their needs as well.

Overall, I was pretty satisfied with my final prototype design that I presented to the publishing group (maybe sans the green bar on the top of my feature spread – I realize now that is more of a distraction than an effective design element). In the end, I was chosen as the publishing group's creative director to lead the editorial vision for this magazine prototype. I'm eager to begin work on our prototype's design and work with my fellow Shindig designers to create a strong visual personality and brand for the magazine.

[You Can't Miss]: Paste magazine's digital issues

Designers: Ever feel stuck when trying to find great feature or department design inspiration? Sometimes I struggle to find ways to transfer some of the graphic design inspiration I found when scouring some of my favorite blogs onto my work in magazine spreads. Well, look no further, because Paste magazines allows you to skim through entire issues at a time with their digital issues available at pastemagazine.com. Paste has recently become a favorite for me to find new ways to organize and align text as well as ways to add interesting visual elements to marry with the text arrangement on spreads. This magazine is also a great example of a magazine that truly has a personality and maintains its unique style throughout each spread.

Here's an example of a digital issue of the magazine from June/July 2010.

Paste magazine cover, June/July 2010