AO1 - Contextual Understanding
When beginning the design of pages within my magazine, I turned to any different designers to ensure my magazine was with rich with inspiration and a variety of creative styles.
One designer who has become very impactful on my project is Desmond Palmer.
Desmond Palmer is a Graphic Designer based in America. His intention whilst growing up and studying at the University Of Pittsburgh was not to be a graphic designer - in fact he did not believe he was creative at all. It wasn’t until he graduated from university that Palmer began to get interested in photography. He received his first camera as a gift from his parents soon after and from then on became inspired by the art of photography. Palmer downloaded Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom and began to edit his own photos using those. Naturally, he progressed onto teaching himself how to use Adobe Illustrator and began making graphics. Whilst many of Palmers designs are heavily photography influenced, Palmer edits his photos in a very unique and creative way. His pieces often portray a message, have bold, saturated colours and include a bold, large type. I chose to research Palmer and be influenced by his work as I feel it is very modern, trendy and appealing to the same target audience that my magazine is aimed towards. His style has mainly impacted my colour choices throughout this project. I have opted for more bold, bright, vivid and deeply saturated colours.
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Another designer who inspired me throughout my project is Alan Fletcher - a logo designer. Fletcher was the inspiration behind the jewellery pages. Alan Fletcher was born in 1931 and died in 2006. He was described by the daily telegraph as "the most highly regarded graphic designer of his generation and probably one of the most prolific." He developed the identities of Reuters and the Victoria And Albert Museum. In 1986, Fletcher designed the logo for Chelsea Harbour, an extensive complex including residences, restaurants, a shopping mall, yacht club and a marina situated on the thames in London. The logo was based on a life belt enclosing a traditional thames spritsail barge, and executed as a stencil for easy application. I used this design as the inspiration behind the logo design for the jewellery brand.
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Desmond Palmer and Alan Fletcher are very different designers. Desmond Palmer's work is very digital and takes advantage of modern technology to create innovative and modern outcomes. In contrast, Alan Fletcher worked in a time where this kind of technology was not around/accessible. Therefore his outcomes are more physical and traditionally artistic. However, there is a link between these two designers. They are both very experimental. Colour also is a defining feature within both of their work.
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When planning this project, I felt it was important that I did some market research to figure out the direction for it. I searched for other magazines with the topic of sustainable fashion. The first magazine that I researched was 'Pebble Magazine'. Launched in 2016, Pebble Magazine is a weekly digital newsletter that is packed with lots of information and ideas about sustainable travel, food, fashion, beauty and more. They also share tips and tricks on things like how to encourage pollination through your choice of flowers in your garden, ways to sponsor a tree in Kenya, and inspiration for eco-friendly holidays. You can subscribe to Pebble’s digital magazine for £3-£5 a month. After scrolling through the Pebble website and reading a few articles, I found that Pebble seems to be a more advice and community based magazine rather than an editorial brand focussed magazine. This means its target audience is very broad. People of all ages can implement a more sustainable lifestyle. It’s simple, sleek graphic design also supports its broad target audience. The colours are very unisex and the design is very simple and clear. To me, the Pebble Magazine looks more like a computer software logo as it is unusual for a magazine to use a pictorial logo over a typography identity. I found this magazine was not very on trend or appealing to the younger generation. Furthermore, this magazine is more focused towards sustainable living rather than sustainable fashion and beauty.
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Next I researched Luxiders Magazine. Launched in 2017, Luxiders magazine is an online magazine for high-end, luxury, sustainable fashion. The magazine’s primary focus is on high-end fashion and design, however it does feature a few articles with tips and tricks on living and all-round mindful lifestyle. You can purchase a Luxiders digital issue for €8 or a physical print issue for €12+ shipping. The Luxiders website features a very clean, crisp and linear design. The shapes are all rectangular or square with little to no organic shapes. The main colours for the brand are simply black and white; the editorial style pictures featured are what bring the colour, drawing the readers eye to them. The Luxiders logo is a simple serif type. The lines within the font vary in thickness. The serifs reflect the traditional and luxury qualities of the magazine. Although Luxiders Magazine is focussed towards just sustainable fashion, it only features high end and expensive brands and products. So whilst it is more on trend, it is less accessible to the majority of the 16-30 target audience and is less likely to push any sales for these featured brands.
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Pebble Magazine and Luxiders Magazine are both quite different; Whilst they both focus on sustainability, Pebble is more aimed at lifestyle, whereas Luxiders is more aimed at fashion. Furthermore, Luxiders has a more on trend and strong brand identity, whereas Pebble is more commercial and - in my opinion - confused.
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Neither of these magazines have the same principal as my project, which proves that there is a gap in the market for it.
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