Magazine Spread

Magazine Identity & Readership

Amp is a music magazine much like Spin and Rolling Stone, but it’s targeted specifically to the college demographic. It features the latest news on a wide variety of genres including rock, hip- hop, country, folk, world music and jazz, paying special attention to indie and underground music. Readers are young, hip and looking for the next big thing before it hits mainstream.

Magazine Visual Identity

Amp’s editorial mix incorporates a fresh, eclectic aesthetic geared toward musicians and music fans alike. There is no template for how the articles should look; rather, each article brings something new and unique to the table and varies issue to issue. The magazine has an almost haphazard, disestablishmentarian style, but is still cleanly executed with a perfect/adhesive binding.

Article Visual Identity

Since each article is its own entity within the magazine, every article has its own theme. For this particular article, the theme is folk and humor, which ties into the genre of Flight of the Conchords. The combination of font and images should convey the same eccentric tone that makes Bret and Jermaine appealing to the college crowd. The article isn’t text heavy and should appear to be an easy read for an impatient skimmer.

Article Design Strategy

The design of the feature spread makes a kooky impression on the audience. The title is in Zebrawood Std, a circus style font that mirrors the humor in the photo of Bret and Jermaine sitting on a toy train. It is justified to the left, balancing out the dominant figures on the far right of the spread. For the text of the article, I used Chaparral Pro because it reminded me of the font used in Rolling Stone, and because its slab serif is distinct and easy to read. The silliness of the feature spread carries over to the jump spread with an equally strange image to catch the reader’s eye. The pull quote is set in the same font as the title to make it stand out from the body text and to incorporate an amusing tone. The sidebar includes an illustration of train tracks ghosted in the background to tie in with the train from the feature image as well as to play on the word “tracks”. It talks about the tracks of FOTC’s album, which is also mentioned in the article and would appeal to their fans. The title of the sidebar is in Futura Std Bold Oblique and the song titles are made larger than the descriptions in order create a hierarchy. The design of both spreads is unusual and folk-arty just like the Conchords and some readers of Amp.

Style Sheet

Feature Spread Headline 1: Zebrawood Std Fill, 104/124.8, optical kerning
Feature Spread Headline 2: Zebrawood Std Regular, 96/115.2, tracking -20
Deck: Chaparral Pro Regular, 14/16.8
Byline: Chaparral Pro Regular, 10/12
Body Copy: Chaparral Pro Regular, 10/12
Folio: Bauhaus Std Demi, 11/13.2
Jump Spread Pull Quote: Zebrawood Std Fill, 14/16.8
Image Caption: Futura Std Book, 9/10.8
Sidebar Headline: Futura Std Bold Oblique, 18/21.6
Sidebar Caption: Futura Std Book, 10/12
Sidebar Song Titles: Futura Std Medium, 14/12
Sidebar Song Description: Futura Std Medium, 10/12
Margins: 3p10

Document Grid

I chose to break the text into three columns because I wanted a grid that was inviting to readers instead of scaring them away with large blocks of text. I brought the margins in a little for the same reason. I didn't want to create the illusion that the entire page was filled with text. This is also why I chose to have a small chunk of text on the feature spread, allowing for a large image on the jump spread. By dividing the article up into small parts, I hope to make it more interesting to look at as well as easier to read.

Sources

Feature Photo
http://www.whatthefolk.net/02images/subpop_large2.jpg
Jump Photo
http://www.whatthefolk.net/02images/subpop_large2.jpg
Sidebar Graphic
http://eatenbymonsters.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/fotccover.jpg

Extras

The colors I used were directly pulled from the feature image. The pale yellow background is lighthearted and opens up the page. I used the deep gold to call attention to the Conchords, and a faded navy blue to match their overalls. The muted palette emphasizes the folksy/artsy tone of the spread.