Spring Break
Designed to Catch Your Eye
The compelling themes behind our new look
Will Frey
Issue date: 3/4/09 Section: Layout
As part of a semester-long process, we've made significant improvements to both the design and overall feel of the Patriot. In an effort to match the excellent caliber of our intellectual arguments with professional design, everything from the nameplate to the color and font has undergone an overhaul.
Since the beginning of the September, we focused on smooth navigation, aesthetic appeal and consistency. The result is the beautiful magazine you hold in your hands. Here's a quick rundown of the new design's focal points:
Aesthetic
Chief among our concerns for the new design was the nameplate, the title that appears at the top of our front page. In years past, it printed pixelated and appeared rather dull at first glance. Our goal was to create a more dynamic front page, one that would catch a reader's attention. If you're reading this now, chances are we did a pretty good job of grabbing your attention.
Navigation & Consistency
In considering these aspects of the design, we asked ourselves: what makes someone interested in picking up a copy of the Patriot? Further, what would entice someone to give more than a casual glance through its pages? The answers we came up with were not surprising: we needed to clearly present readers with options right up front. I'm more than willing to bet that our Juicy Campus cover is what enticed you to pick up this issue of the Patriot. If you weren't interested in the cover story, then perhaps a subheading at the bottom of the front page caught your eye.
All of our inside pages are designed to be very cohesive; at the top of every page is a clear marking of the page number, and a header that indicates the general topic discussed on the page. A less obvious upgrade is the inclusion of a quick preview of the next page's content at the top of every odd numbered page; this feature will entice you to read more of our superlative content.
Overall Presentation
A long running conversation among the Patriot editorial board members has centered on this very theme. Take the GW Hatchet, for instance. Readers won't tell you that they picked it up because it's well designed, well thought-out and well presented; in fact, it's none of those. The Hatchet merely has a tight grip on its campus news monopoly.
Since the beginning of the September, we focused on smooth navigation, aesthetic appeal and consistency. The result is the beautiful magazine you hold in your hands. Here's a quick rundown of the new design's focal points:
Aesthetic
Chief among our concerns for the new design was the nameplate, the title that appears at the top of our front page. In years past, it printed pixelated and appeared rather dull at first glance. Our goal was to create a more dynamic front page, one that would catch a reader's attention. If you're reading this now, chances are we did a pretty good job of grabbing your attention.
Navigation & Consistency
In considering these aspects of the design, we asked ourselves: what makes someone interested in picking up a copy of the Patriot? Further, what would entice someone to give more than a casual glance through its pages? The answers we came up with were not surprising: we needed to clearly present readers with options right up front. I'm more than willing to bet that our Juicy Campus cover is what enticed you to pick up this issue of the Patriot. If you weren't interested in the cover story, then perhaps a subheading at the bottom of the front page caught your eye.
All of our inside pages are designed to be very cohesive; at the top of every page is a clear marking of the page number, and a header that indicates the general topic discussed on the page. A less obvious upgrade is the inclusion of a quick preview of the next page's content at the top of every odd numbered page; this feature will entice you to read more of our superlative content.
Overall Presentation
A long running conversation among the Patriot editorial board members has centered on this very theme. Take the GW Hatchet, for instance. Readers won't tell you that they picked it up because it's well designed, well thought-out and well presented; in fact, it's none of those. The Hatchet merely has a tight grip on its campus news monopoly.
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