Double story

This project was an editorial tabloid printed on 80gsm bright recycled paper. This editorial had to include an essay I had previously written. The target market for this tabloid was graphic designers, both students and professionals. This was a weekly released tabloid with a different graphic design topic being the focus of each issue. The concept was an academic journal where each issue could be collected to create an encyclopedia of every design topic imaginable. As this tabloid was for designers topics could be suggested via post or email to give the readers the information they wanted.

The Brief
The brief was to create a 24 page editorial tabloid which was 289mm x 380mm. The tabloid had to include a 2000 word essay I had previously
written. The topic I chose for the essay was “Are drop caps still relevant in modern typography” so I decided to have the tabloid expand on this topic and be solely on drop caps. Covering everything from their history to their best uses. The brief also included choosing a name for the tabloid and designing a masthead.

The Concept
The concept was to be an academic journal of graphic design topics with a focus on typography. This lead to a more formal tone to the tabloid with a limited colour pallet. I chose to use mainly blue with hints of green for the tabloid as a lot of drop caps from history featured blue as a sign of wealth as the manuscripts when they were handwritten or in the early stages of printing were very expensive to commission so if the owner had blue ink as well as black or red it was like having a rolls royce rather than a range rover.

The Drop Caps
I decided to create small decorated drop caps for almost every page using a different style of drop cap from history with a modern twist. Some are floriated meaning they are decorated with flowers and leaves, some where inhabited meaning they included people or places and some were speaking meaning the decoration reflected the letter e.g. I had ivy. These drop caps added an extra layer to type hierarchy, detail and interest to every page.