Posted on September 30, 2008 in Design, Magazines, by Jamie Roberts
Hammock has a lot of experience with redesign, and our re-imaginings of publications have not only garnered numerous awards, but they’ve also helped our clients recruit and retain members and connect with their readers’ passions. Still, it was cool to have our philosophy on redesign underscored by Kelly McMurray, creative director of the design firm 2communique, at a recent Folio: Show 2008 session in Chicago.
Addressing both editors and designers, she offered these tips for anyone contemplating a redesign:
1. Define why you need to redesign. Is your circulation or readership falling off? Are you taking a new direction editorially? Is the publication too expensive production-wise? Is it not aligned with your reader mission? (If you don’t conduct post-publication reviews of your issues, now is the time to start.)
2. Get everyone’s buy-in. The redesign process needs to be collaborative. That means editors and designers need to figure out ways to speak each other’s language.
3. Complete market research. The more knowledge you have about your readership, the more the redesign will reflect it and align with your readers’ needs.
4. Determine the scope of the redesign. Are you just making minor changes or doing a complete overhaul? Does your team have the right resources and abilities? Can you complete a redesign while keeping up with regular issue demands? Are you too close to step back and be objective, or do you need an outside opinion?
5. Set a reasonable schedule. Commit fully to a launch date, but build in enough time that you resist the temptation to rush through the process.
6. Kickoff the process. Get people away from their desks to discuss elements of the redesign. Be open to inspiration from other magazines: Collect examples of what you do and don’t like.
7. Start tearing down and building back up. Spend lots of time researching typography, color palette, fonts, grid system, navigational systems and style guide. Editors: This is the time to step back and let designers show their talents.
8. Launch the issue. Don’t show your redesign in a piecemeal fashion; get it all out there at once. Build a strong, workable structure, but also make it flexible enough for editors and other designers to take ownership and customize it for future needs.
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Posted on September 29, 2008 in Awards, Design, Small business, Social media, by Hammock Inc.
We were delighted to have two websites we created receive “Standard of Excellence” recognition in this year’s WebAward competition. The Hammock.com site and the NFIB National Small Business Summit site both received this honor, announced last week by the Web Marketing Association, the WebAward sponsor.
The Web Marketing Association is a long-term player in recognizing excellence online — this year’s competition was the 12th annual. Sites are judged against other sites in their industry, on design, copy writing, innovation, content, interactivity, navigation and use of technology.
We’re proud of the honor!
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Posted on September 26, 2008 in Editorial, by Hammock Inc.
It’s almost cute to hear a little girl dressed up like a princess say things like “I is a big girl.”
But when an international car company runs a national commercial with a terrible example of subject-verb agreement — “Its popularity in the hearts and minds of millions have solidified its reputation for quality and high MPG.” — it’s not so cute.
I won’t mention them by name, but “oh what a feeling” of pain I endured when my ears first heard that. I had to rewind a couple of times to make sure I heard correctly.
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Posted on September 24, 2008 in Design, Digital Media, by Barbara Logan
I loved this clever headline in Sunday’s The New York Times— “Too Beautiful for Pixels”—about the biannual art book The Last Magazine. Formatted like a newspaper, its tag line is: All things new—at last. Magnus Berger and Tenzin Wild, co-founders of the magazine, said that colleagues advised them to publish it online. The co-founders decided against the advice, however, and opted for a print-only publication because ”with print you can make something really beautiful.”
I respect their decision, trusting that they know what is best for their content, audience and budget, but I disagree with the implication that you can’t create something “really beautiful” with a digital publication. The decision to choose a print, digital or a combination for distribution of your content should be considered on a case-by-case basis. Readers interact with digital publications differently than print publications, and so those behaviors must be weighed when determining what is right for your audience. Print publications can certainly be beautiful, but don’t discriminate against digital ones—they can be beautiful too.
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Posted on September 23, 2008 in Content Marketing, Editorial, Magazines, by Hammock Inc.
We work with clients to plan content months ahead of time. It’s not uncommon to write a story on the history of Christmas cookies in June or interview entrepreneurs with summertime businesses in February. This early and detailed planning is just one essential piece of the publication puzzle.
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