Magazine Design - "The Underground Railroad of North Korea"
Magazine spread design for GQ Magazine's story on a refugee's escape from North Korea written by Doug Bock Clark. Elements of the design simulate the style of GQ Magazine. The purpose of this project is to practice accurately producing layouts and building upon them.
The first step in this project was to examine the magazine and identify the key elements in the layout.
A typical GQ layout consists of three columns with stylized opening paragraphs and pull quotes. Images can range from a full page to just a single column span. Image retrieved from GQ Magazine.
Along with the layout elements, I also had to identify the typographic elements. This was a much more difficult process, as GQ often uses custom or obscure fonts in their publications. After some time researching online, I was able to gather several of the fonts GQ had used in the edition I was reproducing.
Initial layout with paragraph styles and appropriate fonts. At this stage, I was simply confirming that everything was typographically correct.
After creating an initial layout, I designed several covers using images found online to get a good sense of what the overall design would look like.
With the layout solidified, it was time to go out and gather images. As my article covered an underground ring that helped people escape from North Korea, I wanted my images to reflect feelings of anxiety and darkness that one might feel in such a situation.
Two of these images would eventually be used to form the basis of my opening spread.
In addition to images, I created a type treatment for the opening letter in the article. This is a common style choice in GQ Magazine articles. I wanted the texture to relate to the article, so I created a gritty texture using an image of scratched steel.
Initial spreads after gathering photos for the first time and cementing type treatment.
After receiving some feedback that my images were too dark, I decided to go out into the hills to gather images during sunset. I felt that these photos would elicit the feeling of darkness without sacrificing image quality and readability. Furthermore, I felt that photos taken in nature would better relate to the article; the implication of a journey through unfamiliar territory in the night mirrors events in the story.
The final product, after implementing images and pull-quotes, making typographic adjustments, and adding some elements to the opening spread.
