design refresh

The New Year is a great time for a design refresh of your internal print or digital publications. Emily Moffatt, 44’s Creative Partner, shares her advice to spruce up…

It’s safe to say, we’re all looking forward to the exciting opportunities that 2021 may bring: a new year, a new challenge and with that an opportunity for a design refresh of your internal comms publication.

My background is rooted in editorial design, starting on a consumer title before moving across to internal comms over a decade ago. I love nothing more than planning, designing and creating or refreshing a publication, so here are some of the insider tricks and tips I’ve picked up to help you with your design refresh:

1) Know the (essence) of the brand

It’s important to love and live the brand, but quite often it’s very difficult to take a set of brand guidelines and use them to produce a strong piece of editorial design. A designer’s job is to have a deep-rooted understanding of the brand and be able to make it come to life with the internal audience in mind. In many instances, colour is the key, as it’s one of the most recognisable brand attributes. If you can use it successfully in your publication, you’ll have strong brand recognition with your audience.

2) Judge a magazine by its cover

All magazine covers, whether printed or digital, should have unifying elements, in the form of a masthead, colour and typography. Beyond that, there is the opportunity to get the creative juices flowing! This can be in the form of photography, conceptual ideas and even illustration. Each issue needs to have a surprise element to keep the audience interested. If your publication usually has an employee on the cover, why not mix it up to communicate a different message? Be bold and explore illustration, go big on typography or try an eye-grabbing print technique with a spot varnish. The front isn’t where the opportunities end – have you ever thought about a cover that folds out or wraps all the way around the back? These will certainly grab the reader’s attention and draw them inside. Failing that, a ‘win’ roundel always helps!

3) It’s all about the pace

The flatplan is also a crucial element when planning out a publication. Page by page you can work out the flow, ensuring you have a balance of features and news items, photography and graphics. It’s a designer’s dream to create a change of flow by introducing a full bleed image on the centre spread. This gives the reader an opportunity to take a breath. Changing the pace of a publication will keep the reader’s attention but remember – printed magazines aren’t always read from front to back! The back page is just as important as the front cover.

4) Marry words and pictures

The editor and the designer need to be the perfect double act and understand the importance of each other’s role to make a magazine work – and both should be involved in any design refresh. Editorial design is all about balance and there certainly needs to be give and take. Choosing between a large image and an extra 200 words always creates a debate. Whether the imagery has been commissioned by a high-end photographer or it’s a supplied image from an employee, there’s one thing for certain: your audience will always look for pictures of people they know and work with.

5) Everything has its place

Every publication, digital or printed, will need to have a visual hierarchy. This is the order in which the human brain processes information on a page. For example, on a well-designed news spread, the most important story or the story with the strongest imagery will appear in the top right-hand corner as it’s where the eyes land first on the page. When planning a design refresh, it’s important the designer understands the nature of the content in order to create the best hierarchy on the page.

6) Embrace the space

‘White space’ doesn’t literally mean the space has to be white, it’s simply space on the page that’s left empty as part of a thought-out design. So many people are afraid of empty space, but using it in the right way can make the design look clean and professional. Without it, the design can become overbearing and actually put the reader off. Try and create breathing space around headlines, key facts and calls to action.

7) Connect with your creativity

Creativity is simply about making connections – connecting experiences, the things around you and using them to spark ideas. Magazine references can be great for inspiration, and I’ve definitely headed to WIRED magazine for my editorial fix, but try to start making connections with the things around you. For example, an Anthony Burrill print will always help inspire a typographic challenge and occasionally it may even be watching one of my kids playing that sparks an idea. When I feel like I’m hitting a creative block, I always try to remember a quote by Paul Smith: “You can find inspiration in everything, and if you can’t, look again.”

8) Pretend you’re in an art gallery

Although there’s always a deadline looming, a layout meeting is a vital part of the process. Take a step back to look and look again. Give yourself some time to ensure the cover has pick-up appeal, words and pictures aren’t fighting against each other, the flatplan bounces with pace and you’re proud of your creativity.

Let’s enter 2021 feeling energised, inspired and most importantly, creative! And if you need support with your creative refresh in 2021, why not get in touch?