OUGD404: Studio Brief 02 - Inspiration

Lagom Magazine

Lagom is described as a publication “about people who make a living from their passions, and pastime activities that offer inspiration.” Each issue is divided into three sections: Spaces & Places, which features studios and creative social and work spaces; Craft & Create, which features creative side projects and hobbies; and a more lifestyle-focussed Escape & Recharge, which combines food and drink recipes with articles on ways to unwind outside of work.

The word Lagom is Swedish and refers to the idea of having the perfect balance – a semi literal translation is ‘not too much, not too little.’ This really pushes me to find the most suitable, semantic title for my editorial.

It makes use of thick, uncoated paper stock and full-bleed photography throughout, the magazine has a luxurious feel, without looking to glossy or exclusive. This is a feature I highly admire and will be 

taking forward for the design of mine. “It’s designed to be semi-aspirational, but warm and friendly rather than cold and sterile,”

One of the most striking features in the magazine is the section openers, which combine large type, a double page image and a slim white border. They are apparently designed to create “a visual pause” within the magazine (see beneath), causing readers to stop “and take note that you’re moving on to a different part of the narrative.” I definitely want to experiment with reproducing a similar double page spread within my editorial. The consideration of type is essential with communicating the correct feel to the readers: Luxurious, but not too glossy or exclusive. 

The magazine is set in varying weights and styles. A slab serif is used for body copy, sans features throughout and the titles use various grades of serif, which allows for variation without losing consistency. I am extremely fond of sans serif typefaces, however for the main body type I am tempted to experiment with a subtle slab serif to give the zine a more developed feel, I think pairing it with various modern sans serif typefaces would look effective.. I will experiment!

The contents page appears very structured, using a 4x3 grid it separates the information within each section most perfectly for easy navigation for the eye. I will consider using a similar structured style but am conscious it will not enhance as much negative space as the content of my zine will not be as easily separated into sizeable chunks due to it only being 10 double page spreads.

The below images exemplar the full-bleed pages with images right up to the edge. It usually features 2-3 columns of text which are always the same width, unless the layout of wider images changes this. All pages (unless full bleed photos) make use of a 30mm top and bottom margins which include the page number and reference to the section and article within the publication.

Although the column widths appear quite consistent the grid in which they are placed is not always. It appears to be very dependant on the pictures on the page, and it also varies when a large scale quote from the article is included (shown beneath). I think this magazine reflects perfectly how you can know the guidelines and principles of editorial but then how you can be experimental with some of them. I need to experiment with how my actual content (text and imagery) fit together on a page before I make a final decision on if I will be experimental with any of the principles or if I will just keep it strictly aligned.

The use of various typefaces for the headings does bring a lot of character to the page but whether this will work within a lifestyle / music driven magazine I don't know..

Desillusion Magazine

Desillusion, the French purveyors of all things surf, skate, and snow. 

The magazine keeps it's beautiful hardback coffee book format, being ad-free it is incredibly design driven enhancing negative space with minimal/experimental image layout and a consistent article grid which does include some variation with quotes and images.

It opens with a very minimal intro page which is followed by an editorial insight/overview with articles in both french & english.

The Contents appears structured in a grid, but very different to the one featured in Lagom mag. In a 6x3 grid on each page, contents appear dotted around on the page in an alternating structured manor. I think this is effective and consistent to the whole style of the magazine but it is not something which would appear in my editorial...

Similar to Lagom, it does feature double page introductory spreads to the articles within, with quotes from the article introducing you to what you will be reading within the following pages.

The magazine uses varied stock colours throughout, also experimenting with white and red inks on black  which appears very pleasing and unique. Unless I can find an external printing company that can print with white inks I will be forced to only experiment with lighter paper stocks to print on. I have tried to print a full bleed background colour before to enable white type but on the printers at the college it does not appear consistent or of high enough quality. I would consider looking into having feature stock colours within my editorial, as creams and light pinks, etc are very aesthetical and unique but would need to be justified.

The majority of the articles in the magazine do make use of a consitent 2 colour grid, which is aligned to the left but justified for that consistent column width, unlike Lagom which is aligned to the left but not justified. The type used in main body article text is again a slab serif, proving very legible, boosting readability and consistency page to page. I love how nearly every page also features a header - article name, and a footer - page number. These are both within the margins but provides more depth to the page in my opinion, being centralised against the two column column grid which is split along that centre line. Similarly a 30mm top and bottom margin is used but images breach this pushing full bleed again to each page. 10mm Gutterings are used to break up the text and this double in size on the left and right handside margins. I feel this way the text is most easily navigable but I would consider adding a third column to my editorial.