Response: Meredith

Nick summed it up well when he said the whole presentation process was very anticlimactic.  I knew going into the meeting that the publishers probably wouldn't choose me for Art Director, but I was happy to show them my ideas.  What I got from the little information we had was that the magazine needed to be modern yet quirky, and still look like something Meredith would like.  I chose to disregard the last criterion.  

At the beginning of the capstone course we were encouraged to be creative and to push boundaries.  I may have pushed too much but I took inspiration from McSweeney's Lucky Peach and Bon Appetit.       I am not a huge fan of food magazines, but decided to have some fun with it.  I'd liked to have had more time to perfect them, but I'm happy with my ideas overall.

Here are the revisions.  Keep in mind that they are still ROUGH mockups. =]

COVER

A criticism was that the "Eat Now" was too declarative and looked menacing.  I understand that completely but still wanted it to look sleek and professional.  Had the title been different, I think my font would have worked better for the magazine.  Maybe not, but I still went with the all-caps.

Feature story example

I found the flag and mojito on Stock xchng and fused them together for an 

American feel, reminiscent of all those war movies or speeches to the nation.

Department page

I spent the least amount of time on my department page.  I wanted it to be simple,

 but it definitely is too simple. 

FONTS & Color palette

The whole experience was really fun and I couldn't be happier with my design team.  Every one did a great job and there were a lot of great ideas we can incorporate into our magazine.  I think we're really going to impress Meredith.  

Also,

  

Congratulations Nick on getting to boss me around for the rest of the semester!