What's In This Project

(The entire magazine spreads can be found below.)

Sustainable Blueprint is an architecture, engineering, design, and city planning magazine that focuses on sustainability. This is a magazine for a non-existent company that I created during university. I created the brand, the name, the logo, and decided their main message. This included market research of competitors and profiles of target demographics. I also selected and edited the articles, and wrote both minor and significant parts of some of them.

All layout and design of the magazine is 100% created by me. All illustrations, including advertisements, are created by me. Only some of the images are created by me. I also handled the entire printing process, including preparing the file for print and self-printing the magazine.

Original Advertisements

I also made mock ads for real companies. Here is an example of two of these. The brands were selected to align with the magazine's identity.

Branding

The Branding of the magazine is more than just the logo, fonts, and colors. It also includes the Image and tone of the brand, as well as its target audience and demographics. This influences everything, from the tone of the writing to the layout and types of images used.

Process

1. Initial goals: Determine the magazine's focus and then create profiles for the target demographics. After that, I gathered data on competitors and what they were doing well.

2. Creating the Branding: I selected a name by brainstorming ideas and also generating naming suggestions through AI. With this name, I went through the process of creating a logo, choosing fonts, choosing a color scheme, and creating a brand identity.

3. Created a layout: This involved deciding which articles would be included in the magazine, finding or writing the articles, and then sketching a base layout for all the pages.

4. Designing the magazine: To begin, I set up the document. This included deciding on the type of grid to use, determining the number of columns and rows, selecting the typefaces to be used for specific purposes, setting the page margins, determining the line spacing, and aligning my type to the line spacing. I then found or created high-resolution images needed to enhance the articles. Using these images, articles, and other design elements, I designed the layout of each page. I also ensured that I adjusted the paragraphs and type to adhere to typographic rules, such as removing orphans and widows. I also verified articles and edited them to improve readability and accuracy. After this, I created the ads.

5. Print and revisions: Before final prints, I made multiple text prints to see color and scale. After numerous revisions, I printed the final versions of the magazine. To print the magazine, I prepped the file with a third-party extension for Illustrator and other software. I then used professional-grade printers at the university to print and staple the magazines. After that, I used a paper trimmer to trim the excess paper. I did two revisions after this stage until I had a final product.