CA MAGAZINE
Communication Arts Magazine, a family-owned publication that began in the mid-’50s, has strived to provide a platform for artists and creatives to appreciate one another’s work, find inspiration, and get connected with their community. Considered the “Journal of Creative Excellence,” this magazine is highly valued for its curatorial efforts, which expose the viewer to beautiful, innovative, and diverse design works.
Communication Arts prides itself on educating and informing its audience about design- what it looks like now, where it is going in the future, and how the past affected the design world of today. This project aims to continue those efforts by designing a special edition of the magazine which focuses on the historic era of postmodernism, and how it changed the world of design.
Service
Editorial Design
Client
CA Magazine
(Personal Project)
Year
2021
As the theme of this magazine issue is postmodernism, every page follows the design philosophy and aesthetics of the era- a new-age digital look that seeks to constantly reject the rigidity of traditional Modernist design. The final design seeks to embody the carefree, adventurous essence of postmodern design through spreads that are full of vibrant colors, textures, and patterns which move the eye through the work.
This issue features April Greiman, a quirky and bold designer who was a key contributor to the advance of postmodern design, not in an act of rebellion or criticism of modernism but rather in an act of genuine curiosity and desire to innovate. She was one of the very first artists to experiment with the Macintosh computer to craft her designs and doing so, created some of the first works of “hybrid imagery”, mixing typography and digitally treated images in a design space.
The Final
The final magazine issue embodies postmodern style through whimsical and colorful graphics, sporadic and unstructured type placement, and an overall "digital aesthetic". The halftone textures and geometric patterns sprinkled throughout the issue pay homage to the “New Wave”, an international style that was introduced to Greiman in Basel, Switzerland and became a crucial aspect of her design aesthetic after her return to the U.S. Overall, the final magazine aims to draw in viewers with fearless, playful design while educating readers on a crucial design era.
The Process
The process for this project began with extensive research of CA Magazine, including meetings with the owner of the company and online research, in addition to research of postmodern aesthetics and philosophy. The moodboard displays several of April Greiman's works which will inspire the final editorial design, specifically the bitmapped font, digitally applied texture and patterns, and bold-colored geometric shapes. Several rounds of brainstorming and sketches were performed to reach a refined concept for the digital composition.
