Designing Magazines

Designing Magazines is for anyone who has ever dreamed of designing his or her own magazine or who wants to restructure and rebrand an existing one. Designers and editors will get the inside scoop on how magazines operate internally and politically--essential knowledge for anyone in the industry. In a series of interviews and essays, thirty-five experienced editors, in-house designers, and consultants--including George Lois, Roger Black, Greg Lindsay, Steven Heller, Joyce Rutter Kaye, Dan Rolleri, and Moisés Na'm--present their views and insights on the goals and process of magazine design. Chapters focus on specific problems editorial designers face, such as:

• In-house versus external redesign
• Setting and working with a budget
• The effects of relocation on the staff and content
• Maintaining a fresh look without sacrificing identity
• Creating design specifics such as the grid, typography, and ad placement
• The affect of design on readers
• Deciding how much to alter the magazine's image
• Evaluating readership
• Setting goals and objectives for a design
• Meeting the needs of everyone on staff
• Ethical considerations of magazine design
• The future of the field

Rothstein also showcases magazines that have risen above the crowd and achieved special social importance and describes how design has been a part of that process. This book provides fresh perspectives for those new and old to magazine design.