Week 1, day 1

It has begun...

I am back!! And I am not going anywhere now. I cannot tell you how excited I am that we have finally started working on our foundation portfolio full time. During these months I have considered both genre options I was originally drawn to and have decided I am going to work on... (drumroll please)... a food magazine! With this in mind, I also began to brainstorm the brand identity I wanted to give my magazine and came to the conclusion I want it to have an aesthetic that is somewhat artistic and closer to an "indie" food magazine. What I mean by this is that the magazine will have a more luxurious and thoughtful aesthetic that does not have a commercial feeling. For example, in a magazine like this, ads included would be less mainstream and focus more on promoting luxury goods so that the image of the magazine is cohesive all throughout. Design should be clean and not feel cluttered, while also having some artistic choices that channel creativity. 

To better help you picture this, let me show you the kind of aesthetic I have in mind through some examples. 

#1: Saveur Magazine issue on Avocado's 

What I like about this aesthetic is how it is loyal to the green color scheme of the picture of the avocado. I also like the fact that it is eye catching by making a close up shot of an avocado the main focus, something that is not usually seen in more commercial food magazines where a dish, or several are the focus. I also like the fact that the cover lines are kept simple and are usually the same size (of course this is not counting the main cover line). 

#2: Bon Apetit issue "healthy-ish"

Again, it is clear that this magazine has an appreciation for maintaining some sort of artistic vibe because it plays with the pink color scheme. In addition to this, the subtitle above the masthead has an unusual color of the font, that is not one set color but instead has different shades of blue in a pattern similar to the water of a pool. This artistic touch is a pop of color in the pink and pastel hues and gives the magazine a definite artistic look. From this, I also like how the cover lines are centered around the plate and how some of them have the shade of blue introduced in the quirky subtitle. 

Playing with colors like these magazines did is something I definitely want to consider. I want to make sure the combinations of color make sense and should probably refer to a color wheel to do so. I think the contrast of colors and the color wheel are areas that warrant more research, which I plan on doing later in the process.