When selecting typefaces for Web or magazine projects, our designers consider everything from the amount of text to the message, emphasis and style of a publication. Many of these typefaces are chosen early in the process and draw from a family of fonts, which are used throughout our publications repeatedly to create continuity.

The dozens of awards Hammock Inc. has won over the years for its design work attest to the talent concentrated in our art department. But in what well do they find inspiration for the seemingly endless flow of fresh, invigorating designs for our print and web work? Turns out, inspiration springs from all around:

Web design rockstar Khoi Vihn, design director at NYTimes.com, gave a ringing-endorsement point to a deck that accompanied a presentation by designer Jeff Croft.

Think about your favorite websites, the ones you frequent most often for news, sports, shopping and entertainment. What do they have in common?

Now think about your own website. Does it have those same characteristics? If not, it may be time for a simple update or a total redesign. Here are five questions to ask yourself:

Then: But the words you see printed on the page are only part of the tale. Those of us trained as writers and editors (and many in the general population) usually think that a "story" is told with written or spoken words.

But just think how a verbally told story is enhanced by these factors:

• The speaker - His or her history and association with the story


• The setting - The difference between a sterile conference room and an outdoor amphitheater


• Emotion in the voice


• The speaker's motions, or lack thereof

Similarly, your sense of a magazine article is also enhanced by its setting -- the page layout.

I talked to our design team recently about the importance of white space in magazine design. I've marked up a spread with their comments on Flickr.

• Banner (sometimes called "nameplate")
• Tagline
• Image
• Cover blurbs
• UPC code
• Price
• Date/Volume number

But the art of a cover remains more elusive, more difficult to nail down. The same elements go into a mundane magazine cover and into an award-winning one. What's the difference between blah and wow?

I asked Jamie Roberts, our editorial director, and Kerri Davis, our art director, to give me some insight into the thoughts and planning that go into an award-winning magazine cover.

Hammock has some really talented designers -- and I'm not one of them. So I asked our art director, Kerri Davis, to help me understand what goes into the font choices designers make when they're laying out a spread in a magazine.

I tend to think things I don't understand are just magic -- don't we all? But Kerri shared with me the guidelines she follows as she starts her work. The end result still looks magic to me, but we can all learn from the method behind it.

I took Kerri's notes and marked up two spreads that I posted on Flickr. Click over to see her thoughts.

Working on lots of long-term magazine projects, we don't select new fonts all that often, particularly when it comes to body copy. In general, you choose a font for the body copy of your publication, and you stick with it, unless it's time for a big redesign. And a lot of times, you still stick with it after a redesign.

Because a body copy font is such a long-term commitment, we are very careful when we're choosing one. I sat down with our design team recently to get their insights on what makes a great body copy font for a magazine.

There’s no doubt that photographers are artists, but their work at a photo shoot also includes a certain amount of science and, of course, skill. At Hammock we aid in that scientific process by preparing our photographers as much as we can before they aim a camera at one of our assignments. We believe that the more we communicate a story’s purpose beforehand, the better a photographer can represent our subject and convey a powerful visual message. A Hammock photo shoot isn’t point-and-shoot time.

At Hammock, we have a long tradition of adopting early any technology that improves our ability to create media and efficiently manage the production flow of highly complex publishing projects. We're constantly pushing the edge on new ways to collaborate and design everything from magazines to the newest forms of digital media.

But there's one tradition we have here that is extremely non-technical -- and very old school. It's a tradition we'll never give up -- even though we already replicate the process digitally and online.

It's the wall. That's what we call it. And that's what it is: A big wall with strips of corkboard tracking lining it from floor to ceiling. We know it should have a more clever name, but it named itself before any of us could come up with one.

The wall is where designers post proof-spreads of page layouts during the magazine production process. As people walk by the wall, the spreads just beg for comments and so there's always a handy red marker nearby. The pages grow and soon, the wall is full -- sometimes with two or more magazines being produced simultaneously.

At some point near the end of the process, a "Wall Meeting" takes place and the editorial and design team gather in front of the wall for a wide-ranging conversation about the flow and pace of soon-to-be-published magazine. Is something not working? Should something be moved? Is there a gap here? What can we do to make this stronger?

Conversations. Debates. An occasional argument. They're all a part of the wall tradition. It's is a part of who we are and how we work.

We'll never tear down this wall.

For years, Rex has cited Southern Living's saddle stitching as an anomaly in the magazine industry. It makes more sense for large magazines to perfect-bind -- meaning the edge of the magazine is flat like a book binding -- than to saddle-stitch, using staples down the middle.

But for years, though Southern Living regularly runs well over 100 pages, they've continued to saddle-stitch. The conventional wisdom has said, It's not broken, so they're not fixing it. Through slumps in the magazine industry, Southern Living held steady on ads and subscriptions, so why mess with a formula that was working?

From the looks of it, they're aiming at the Seven Sisters magazines [the ones you think of when you think "women's magazine" -- Better Homes & Gardens, Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, McCall's, Ladies Home Journal, Redbook and Woman's Day]] and perhaps a little at O, Real Simple and Martha Stewart Living. They've expanded a section on healthy living into a regular feature. And the interior design -- well you'd easily think you're flipping through Family Circle unless you looked at the folio.

I don't say that as a negative; I think the new design is a nice, fresh look and it fits the content well. I can't wait to hear about the reaction from Southern Living readers, though. SL's design has been so stable for so long that although many of these changes are subtle in and of themselves, the very fact of a change may hit some readers in the face. They've even changed their font for body copy.

But me, well, I'm all about change. I say, good job, and congratulations for taking the leap! For more, get Rex's take. Like me, he's now curious to see how the market will react:

Why did Time Inc. allow Southern Living to stick with saddle stitching for so long? ...here’s my semi-educated guess: Time Inc. has been afraid to anger the tens of thousands of readers who have vast collections of past issues of the magazine displayed on bookcases. ... Again, that’s a theory. Surely, the Southern Living folks went beyond the typical reader research to isolate collectors of the magazine to gauge what their response will be. They did, surely? If not, this should be a very interesting experiment in what happens when one ignores the obvious.