Blue Ridge Country and Elevations DC Magazines

 

While both of these magazine assignments dating from 2012 and 2014 presented unique challenges, each was instructive and allowed for plenty of creativity in its own way. Scroll for images and extra notes.

My redesign of BLUE RIDGE COUNTRY magazine combined bold serif and sans serif fonts to create a dynamic hierarchy, as well as visual interest. The 25-page academic project required a briefs section, two feature stories and three cover designs. Careful selection of graphic assets and content reinforced my "Wild Country Weddings" theme for the summer issue.

↑ I created new departments, then wrote and organized summary bullets for the table of contents. ↓

↑ Selectively chosen full page ads from the magazine support the theme and facing pages.

↑ I named the briefs section "Vistas" and populated it with Blue Ridge travel advice and teaser stories for upcoming events. ↓

↓ An image-driven feature between the text-heavy festival guide and "Blue Ridge Retro" keeps the feature well flowing. ↓

 

ELEVATIONS DC. Although print resolutions were adequate for this image-driven feature story on the Peace Building, disparities in tone, brightness and other problems plagued the article's photo assets. The disparity was especially noticeable in the color of the sky. With some extra TLC and cleanup in Photoshop, however, these challenges were overcome.

↑ The patch of sky in the small inset image (above right) was a strangely solid shade of lavendar, but with adjustment this photo appears to have been taken the same day as others provided for the article. ↓

↑ Using the topmost image as the benchmark, I worked to make the larger image look as if it were taken in the same series. Correcting the distinctly yellowish tone of the original image (left) vastly improved both color and contrast (right). ↓