anne hathaway: in the raw / mag project

Magazine Identity & Readership:

I envisioned my magazine as literary and fashion based. I imagined is as a mix between Vogue & The New Yorker. My intended readers are women, targeted age (20-45). However, in contrast to Vogue, my magazine’s identity is foused heavily on social issue and justice – in combination with fashion.

Magazine Visual Identity:

I’m highly influenced by photographers such as Richard Avedon and Diane Arbus and I especially wanted to convey that through my feature and jump spreads. I really like the idea of the old-school feel of black and white and I was lucky enough to find a high resolution picture of Anne Hathaway to implement that. The personality I wanted to convey was very raw (hence my title), and honest. I chose a very stilling picture for my feature and it contained the feel I wanted to express in my magazine.

Article Visual Identity:

As an avid magazine reader, I knew that I was drawn into magazines that utilized a lot of white space. Also I wanted a dominating image that would captivate the raders if they were just flipping through the pages, like many people do. I wanted the article to be easy to read – making the readers feel at ease.

Article Design Strategy:

I chose to do my feature and jump spreads on Anne Hathaway. The article that I based my design on talked about the evolution and transformation of a post-break up Anne. In my magazine, I wanted to reflect the frank conversations she had with the interviewee in the essence of my magazine spreads. The types that I chose in my feature spread complemented the organic feel of the picture that I chose, ultimately bringing together a cohesiveness through the picture and type. The color that I chose also was very important in the process of me creating my spread. I knew that I wanted to go with a feminine color, to reflect the classy and composed stature Anne Hathaway possessed, but I didn’t want it to be too overwhelming. I chose a pinkish magenta that I searched through the color palette that I thought complemented Hathaway’s own personality but also would be different from the black and white in the background. These choices were implemented throughout my feature and also jump spreads. I carried the pinkish magenta color and typography throughout the drop caps in my article. I wanted to make sure that the article wasn’t drowning in the massive amount of text that it had. Overall, I designed my article spread with the idea of it being very clean and simple, yet classy and understated.

Style Sheet:

Cover Headline:

“In”-Eccentric, 128.125/153.75, metric, tracking none

“the”-Spring LP Std Light, 128.902 pt/(154.682 pt), metric, tracking none

“Raw”-Eccentric, 128.902 pt/ (154.682 pt), metric, tracking none

Cover Teaser: Cambria, 17/20.4, metric, tracking none

“Anne Hathaway”-Spring LP Std Light, 30/36, metric, tracking none

Author Credit: Cambria, 18/20.6, metric, tracking none

Body Text: Georgia, 9.5/13, metric, tracking none

Photo Credit: Cambria, 15/18, metric, tracking none

Jump Spread Pull Quotes: Orator Std Medium, 19/20, metric, tracking none

SideBar:

Headline: Palatino, 26/31, metric, tracking none

Headline Teaser: Cronos Pro, 12/12, metric, tracking none

Photo Captions: Gill Sans, 10/11, metric, tracking none

Document Grid:

Before settling on the 3 column grid, I tried experimenting with the 2 column, 4 column and even 5 column grids. I thought that the 3 column grid fit best with the design of my feature and jump spread. It wasn’t too overwhelming and classified the information in a clean way.

The margins that I adjusted were also reflective of the design of my layout. I wanted a significant amount of white space to allow for an easy-flow when readers were flipping through the magazine.

Sources:

I used 6 images throughout my magazine layout. I had two dominant image and 4 small images for my sidebar.

Anne Feature: http://ima.dada.net/image/2130729.jpg

Anne Jump: http://www.smokingincinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/anne_hathaway_smoking_001.jpg

Anne Sidebar 1: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3165/2546297210_28d6c089c6.jpg

Anne Sidebar 2: http://musicfameandfashion.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/anne-hathaway.jpg

Anne Sidebar 3: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_6p0MudPQEfs/ScltReAJCdI/AAAAAAAAAbk/ObH9bMs6vQw/s320/annehathaway-in-marchesa.jpg

Anne Sidebar 4: http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/090223/Oscar-fashion/Anne-Hathaway_l.jpg

Extras:

I kept my color selections minimal because I wanted to maintain the cleanliness of the layout. I used the eyedropper tool and took out a grayish black color from the first picture and used it as the background color in my sidebar. The pink I created through the color wheel.

Happy Halloween, from The New Yorker

The New Yorker never uses photography for its covers. The publication has always relied on illustration and it always works. This upcoming issue, courtesy of MagCulture, continues that trend. At first glance, the Halloween-themed images (darkness, shadows, leaf-less trees, orange border) suggest a typical scene. Yet, as the magazine usually does, subtleties contradict the entire cover to make a societal critique. The cell phone lights shining on the parents' faces show they are not at all engaged with their children's big event.

So, it seems the editors are telling the elitist parents (who are their target audience) to wise up, start paying more attention to their kids and enjoy the ghoulish festivities, instead of checking their inboxes.

Because you can infer this much from one aspect of the cover shows how much we can convey with our feature spreads. Choosing the right image and placing it in the right context will make our projects much more effective.