glued magazine
Overview
Type of project Self Initiated
Duration 5 Days
Role Worked Alone
Tools Visual competitive analysis, Mood board, Style guid, Responsive web design, Figma
In this project I created an editorial magazine, responsive to desktop and mobile, based on a given user persona. The persona I chose to work on - Paula (19) — The Laid-Back Creative - is young, curious and open minded so I wanted to create a 1 stop shop for all the things she would want to read about. With that in mind I came up with a feed based magazine inspired by tumblr, Instagram and other social networks that gives you the option to scroll and see the articles, as well as to search by tag or use the menu to find specific writers, subjects and columns.
Problem Statement
The persona reads Vice, Rolling Stone, Man Repeller and other webzines. While they all have amazing content I felt I could come up with 1 magazine that will speak directly to her subculture - indie, artsy, hipster and progressive, the type of magazine she would want to be featured in.
How might we create an editorial online platform that young creatives would want to engage with?
Users & Audience
The persona - Paula - was the given part in this project, to better understand her I made comprehensive visual identity competitive analysis looking at the webzines she likes to read, I also looked at other magazines that were recommended to me by people I found that matched the persona. Since it was written that she's an Instagram user and because of her age group I thought a lot about the way that age group is used to getting information, the way they search on different platforms, colours and layouts that they would want to engage with.
Scope & Constraints
The timeline for this project was 5 days. Since I didn't have to conduct user research and already had my persona I started with empathising with the persona, analysing competitors and ideating the layout and visual identity of the magazine. I knew I wanted the platform to be fun and colourful in a way that gave the articles centre space. My main inspirations were fanzines (unauthorised fan made magazines traditionally produced in a photocopy machine, associated with 80's punk culture), I wanted to take that aesthetic and translate it on to a modern and sleek online platform.
Process
I conducted a visual competitive analysis, looking at the layouts of the articles as well as the order of elements on the page, together with a mood board and colour scheme I produced a style guide and built the prototype. A big part of the aesthetic of an online magazine comes from the changing photos and content, I had to keep that in mind when designing the article cards and layout of the magazine.
Outcomes & Lessons
Throughout this project I learned about the importance of visual competitive analysis and building a brand's language through fonts, icons, colours and layouts. I find it really interesting breaking down web and app designs to their main components and comparing them in the context of designing for a persona.
I think I quite successfully created an idea for an editorial that my persona would love to read, that takes into account her intresses and culture while also looking at habits of her age group.
Style Tile
