You Can't Miss: Charting your way to better design & typography

Who knew your text great typographic design decision can be determined in a chart? Check out this design chart designed to determine what type treatment to give your design. It uses the anatomy of a typeface to determine the type of design its best suitable for. Unfortunately, the chart doesn't give magazine design its own category, but I think we all know that creating a typeface chart for magazine design alone could be quite the undertaking. See what you think, visit the full blog here.

Response: The (harsh) reality of web design

Tuesday's lecture by Kristin Kellogg, digital editor for Vox magazine, caused me to except several true, but harsh realities on the limitations and decision-making when it comes to designing for the web, mobile and tablet. The reality is print, web, phone and tablet design are just not equivalent to one another. Sounds simple enough until you are faced with trying to design a web, mobile or tablet component based off of a print design, just as we are for our magazine prototypes in Advanced Magazine Design.

Kristin explains that as a design, you can't control the context people will be viewing your work in – an idea that designers sometime have a difficult time accepting. She says you must design for the optimum viewing experience and most importantly, "let print be print, and let a webpage be a webpage."

Kristin showed us how this concept plays out in GQ's March 2011 "The People V. Football" feature. See below how the feature design transfers from its beautiful print form into a simple, much less designed format on the website.

"The People V. Football," GQ March 2011 (print design)

Here you have a compelling typography illustration contrasted with this engaging photograph to grab your attention. Kristin pointed that it wasn't the story topic that grabbed her attention, but the illustration, which is a great example of how powerful magazine design in print can be, and how magazine designers can use this to their advantage in print.

"The People V. Football," GQ March 2011 (web design)

I think it's pretty clear looking at the web design of this feature that it is in fact lacking in design, however, Kristin explains that the decision was by no means accidental. Not only would specially design text not be read by a search engine like this text would be, but the website works off of a content management system, giving staff members at the magazine the ability to post content to the website without having to code or design the content and as Kristin puts it: does all of the heavy lifting for them. Although to a print designer, it might seem to be a lack of design, it's truly just designed for a completely separate purpose. People don't look for interesting content to read on a webpage the way they do in print. A compelling design will catch your attention in print, but the way a browser will find your content online will not always be through the same context, so it's the words that have to be flexible in order to optimize the chance that a browser will be interested in viewing the content.

In her lecture, Kristin went on to explain how GQ and several other major publications have adapted their design for both mobile and tablet apps to fit the demand from those platforms as well. After hearing so much from publications on tablet design from the recent iPad conference and from my Magazines Across Platforms course, I found her focus and angle on the subject to be incredibly refreshing. Kristin comes from a design background, so I truly appreciated hearing her perspective on making the leap from print to the less familiar web, mobile and tablet realm.

Critique: Protoype Progress

Our advanced design capstone has certainly come quite a ways since first being introduced to these magazine prototype concepts from the publishing capstone teams, and believe it or not, in just a matter of weeks each team will have completed a full 30-40 page printed magazine.

It was great to see how each team has evolved their chosen creative director's prototype in class on Tuesday. Seeing the evolved designs with the magazine's actual stories really brought these prototypes to life – you start to realize how big of an undertaking this truly is.

After seeing some of their work on Tuesday, here are some notes I have on some of the other teams' progress:

Nosh: Beautiful job with giving the magazine a distinct style and personality. It was great to see so much progress on your prototype, and to see how well the template is transferring to each department and feature page. I would want to suggest to be careful with using your arrow element too much, it's really a nice touch when used sparingly, and I would hate to see such a nice element get overused. Also, I loved seeing the additional cover options, it's really coming along. Theresa, I know you made a comment in class about how the color palette of the second Nosh cover option didn't seem to go over well with my publishers, but it seems like the only reason it's not working here is because the rust color for the nameplate seems to be bringing out the rust color from the sauce in the cover photo, which isn't the prettiest color of sauce. I think if you find a way to highlight the beautiful greens and orange tones in the spring rolls, you might find a nice way to focus less attention on the color of the sauce. Again, prototype is really coming along! Beautiful job.

Plaid Dad: Wow, what a transformation this prototype has made since you all began. I really like the way you all have collaborated on so much of this prototype's template design elements, the revisions you've made on ways to use the tool box icon, etc. are working nicely. This magazine audience is such a challenge to design for and you guys are finding really great ways to design in a way that would appeal to that type of reader.

Cupboard: You guys are really coming along in finding your magazine's distinct personality, I would just like to see the designs come together to make a more cohesive package. There are some really nice feature and department designs that are working well as individual pieces, I think Cupboard just needs to work on emphasizing the Cupboard brand and show us how that transfers from department to feature designs throughout the magazine. 

Modern Midwest: I love how your team has been able to take this magazine's editorial mission and given its design a fresh, modern vision that appeals to this audience so nicely. This prototype is full of some very unique content and its great how you have found ways to unify the content which such a nice color palette and design template. The features are always difficult to keep cohesive with the rest of the magazine, so I think this is something that could be worked on, but has seemed to be a challenge most teams are facing.

Again, it's really incredible how much progress these teams have made already, and it's only a matter of weeks before they're all fully transformed into a printed publication. (Deep breathe, everyone...)

The Future of Typography & Mizzou Makes Cakes! [YOU CAN'T MISS]

YOU CAN'T MISS: The future of typography, according to Richard Rutter, Fontdeck

"I've seen the future and it's 326 ppi." – Richard Rutter, SXSW 2011


Print magazine's Imprint blog featured Rutter's presentation on the future of typography given at this year's SXSW complete with slides from his presentation. Follow the link and you can download his notes to keep in your library for future reference. What a great resource! Check it out here.

YOU CAN'T MISS: Mizzou Makes Cakes – and some great promotional designs!

Photo courtesy of Student Design Center

I just had to give a shout-out to the beautiful flier, poster and banner designs created by the Student Design Center for Mizzou's latest event: the Mizzou Cake Challenge, featuring Duff Goldman of Charm City Cakes and Food Network's hit show Ace of Cakes. The designs are beautiful! A perfect fit for such a noteworthy event.

The Portfolio Panic [RESPONSE]

As taxing as it was to sift through everyone's entire portfolio in class over the past week, it's truly been one of the most valuable opportunities yet this semester. Not only were our portfolios reviewed by each and every other classmate, but it was the first chance I had all semester to really look at not only the amount of work I've done in the past few months alone, but also how far my work has come in the past four years. I can't wait to get the feedback from classmates and start looking at ways to condense and strengthen my portfolio, which will involve revising much of my past student work. The task is a bit daunting, yes, but when else will I ever get the opportunity to have my past work critiqued by 18 other people in the field?! Seeing how everyone's work evolves over the next several weeks when we regroup for our portfolio review will certainly be interesting – I can't wait to see how far everyone has come by the end of the semester.

Here are a few of the pieces currently in my portfolio, in addition to some of my work already posted in past blog posts. I'll be interested to see what makes the cut the next time around...

 Starting with a few flier designs I did for the TOMS campus organization One for One, and then a feature photo essay design from the beginning magazine design class last semester.

One for One at Mizzou, Oct. 2009

One for One at Mizzou, April 2010

One for One at Mizzou, September 2010

Feature photo essay design, November 2010

Feature photo essay design, November 2010

Feature photo essay design, November 2010

SJI Logos [CRITIQUE]

During these past couple weeks, our capstone class took a big of a breather from magazine design – okay, not completely true – and switched gears for our 20-5 logo assignment. The task was to begin with 20 initial logo designs for the organization, and then narrow the number down to 5 and expand upon those 5 designs for the following week. The logos were for the Sports Journalism Institute – a national organization that aims to attract talented students to journalism through opportunities in sports reporting and editing, while enhancing racial and gender diversity in sports departments nationwide. Greg Bowers, sports editor at the Columbia Missourian, asked we design the logo with both the sports element and concept of diversity in mind. Easier said then done. This was quite an interesting challenge for someone that's spent the last year designing for pages and pages of story content – it was difficult for me to all of the sudden create a design that was so condense, but still just as content-driven. It had been awhile since I had done a logo design, so I have to say my first 20 are not exactly designs I am particularly proud of. However, having to create so many designs for the first round proved to be a valuable exercise. Once 5 were selected from your group of logo designs, it came down to two final designs for the competition.

Final five SJI logo designs

Final two SJI logos submitted for competition

Top: This logo design uses the mechanical aspect of sports to drive the design and to give it a very unique appeal. I think this logo incorporates the sports aspect of the institute without being too literal. The color choices were chosen because of its appeal to both genders.

Bottom: This logo design has a very collegiate feel, which not only speaks to the institute’s purpose, but it also a design style that doesn’t limit its appeal to a specific gender or type of student. The yellow stroke across the SJI resembles a highlighter, which adds some texture and depth to the logo and also ties the logo’s collegiate look.

ESPN at the iPad conference + A Life of Looking's mini-makeover and VoxTalk!

[RESPONSE]: ESPN The Magazine at Monday's iPad Conference

Monday's iPad conference was a day full of inventive, creative people in the magazine industry, but one of the more memorable panels for me was with the ESPN crew. The presentation was full of interesting perspectives on this new platform for magazines.

ESPN's Rob King compared the expectations of mobile and tablet apps to that of his young son's first experience with elevators. Even after his son returned home and was no longer able to use an elevator, the expectation to have one to use was still there because he had had it once before. King explained that the idea of an app is the time – when you can get it first somewhere, there is an expectation to get it anywhere. 

The group also discussed the idea of "you selling you" when it comes to conceptualizing content for any platform. They explained that all of the successful apps stem from this idea. Many aspects of the ESPN brand are prime examples of this. Take, for example, ESPN's ScoreCenter mobile application. The app is all about customization and personalization to give you instant access to stats and up-to-date scores on your favorite teams and players, based on your settings. The same goes for Pandora, TweetDeck and Starbucks apps, for example – the app's content is all based on your likes and dislikes, favorites, suggestions based on those likes and dislikes, etc.

These two notions truly altered my perspective and thought process for conceptualizing an iPad app and its design.

 
Watch the recorded sessions from the iPad conference here.

[YOU CAN'T MISS]: A Life of Looking's mini-makeover

I decided it was time to give my blog a little TLC. I took out the busy, stock image as the background and opted for a cleaner, more reader-friendly design. I also recreated my blog's banner to add a little more context to my blog's content and purpose, and switched out the previous font for a more tailored and suitable font for the blog title. Ultimately, I'd like to take more time later on in the semester to add even more design elements and personality to my blog's design, but in the meantime, I thought it was in need of a change. What do you think?

[YOU CAN'T MISS]: Blog design of Vox magazine's VoxTalk

I thought I would give this opportunity to make sure you are becoming regulars on Vox magazine's new blog – I have to admit, it has exceeded my expectations. As a web producer for the scene department for the magazine, I spent my entire weekend posting movie reviews to the blog from the weekend's True/False Film Fest, so it's possible that my fondness for it grew simply through hours poured into it over that three-day period, however, its daily presence can't go unnoticed. Not only is their new content daily, but the variety of content and voices on the blog is impressive – so impressive, I thought it deserved a shout-out. But on more design-related note, not only is the blog's layout easy to navigate, but its logo and banner treatment serve as a great visual representation of the blog and its intended audience. The logo itself is very "Voxy" – clever and to the point. See it for yourself, visit VoxTalk here!

The True/False Takeover: Finishing the WHAT T/F Feature Design

[CRITIQUE]: True/False Feature Design for Vox Magazine

 

The design for the 10-page True/False feature evolved from a retro space theme into a much more conceptual theme about the True/False Film Fest's invasion on Columbia. The text consisted of several individual pieces on varying aspects of the festival and a guide to take you through it. The theme for the feature was "What T/F," covering the who, what, when, where, why and how of the fest. My co-designer Allison and I worked to make this feature theme come to life with a strong, compelling visual theme, so we decided that the visual elements would give the text a somewhat retro comic, space theme to make this invasion concept come to life. The combination of font choices, color palette and illustrations created a style of design that was not only appropriate for Vox readers, but was a perfect fit for the quirky, hipster-like vibe of the festival.

Tackling such a large feature with so many separate stories and story elements was certainly a challenge for the two of us. It was clear that we needed to use our visual theme in a way that would also successfully carry out the feature's "What T/F" theme. We eventually found visual elements to take from the splash page (pictured above) to apply to each of the feature pages to create a consistent visual package. I think the elements used like the comic-like headline treatment and the color palette used throughout helped to make this a successful package.

 

 

WHAT T/F: The evolution of the Vox cover design from start to finish

[Critique]: True/False Cover Designs, from beginning to end

Phew, what a last few weeks it has been, but wow, to see it all in print tomorrow morning will really make it all worthwhile. Balancing feature and cover designing was certainly a challenge, but no design challenge comes without plenty of learning experiences. I thought I'd go through the design process for the cover design, specifically, to look at how my initial concepts transformed into what you see in print. So, here we go...

As part of the requirement for submitting cover concepts for the first cover competition, I provided the editors with three very different takes on the True/False feature of Vox. I began with three cover options: an illustration, a studio concept and a concept that evolved from my Spring Preview cover design.

>> From this...

This cover was modeled after my Spring Preview cover concept, using a neon, nighttime theme. If fully executed, the cover would have used photos from actual True/False venues.

This cover concept was done to correlate with the retro space visual theme for the True/False feature that Allison and I were working on. I used the idea of a human invasion that the city of Columbia is faced with during the True/False festival. The city is full of people from all walks of life during this weekend so I thought this human invasion idea would be a nice way to play that up.

This preliminary cover design represented my studio concept. Concepts using a studio shot can be difficult to show in its initial form, so this one requires some explanation. 


I wanted to play up the idea of the ultimate juggernaut, which is a term that the festival uses to describe their superstar volunteers – those that dedicate more than 40 hours to the festival. I wanted to create a relationship between the festivalgoers and the volunteers, so I took the juggernaut idea and made it into a festivalgoer – someone that's just as passionate and dedicated to the festival, but as an audience member. I would deck out the model to in their True/False gear, with a pass around their neck representing a festival pass that would contain the cover sell lines. This ended up being the concept that the editorial team wanted me to take a step further.

The studio concept was the favorite among editors (and here it's merely that, a concept, not a design), and I was asked to further explore the possibilities with this studio concept to create a final cover design with a real photo shoot to submit for a finalist for the True/False cover competition. The idea would be that doing an actual shoot would provide editors with more information on the shoot, and then would allow them to re-shoot if my cover concept was chosen for the issue.

>> To this...

I spent my next weekend finding all of the True/False gear for the shoot, the location and of course, the models. Lucky for me, The Butterfly Tattoo was more than willing to let me borrow a shopping bag full of True/False goodies for the shoot, even knowing the cover might have even run, and for that I will forever be a loyal customer. I decided to create two options for the editors to have when it came time to decide on a final design for the issue, so I convinced two friends of mine to agree to doing the shoot. Of course as you might expect, my models were late, however the outcome was truly worth the wait. The shoot took place just outside my house, with a few wardrobe changes and adjustments along the way. In the end, it was the red and black get-up photos that were really the most successful. The juggernaut idea, again, is used in the headline, and then the issue's theme for the feature "What True/False."

>> And finally... this.

So, here it is... the final cover! I think the most exciting part of it all was having a byline for not only designing, but for the photo as well (editors had a second photo shoot, but decided on my original photo for its more compelling composition). The fact that I had my hands in every aspect of the design made seeing the final product in print that much more rewarding.