Pigeon Magazine
Building a Brand and Content Community
Pigeon Magazine is a NO AI project that is focused on telling the world about the creative process. We highlight artists, musicians, bands, creators, you name it; if you’re making something awesome or unconventional Pigeon Magazine is the space for it.
Visit the project here: www.thepigeonmag.com or visit us on instagram where you can follow, share, or just like a few posts: www.instagram.com/pigeon_mag_/
THE WHY
There are so many books and magazines that artists have to pay to get into. We think that’s fucked up! Plus all of them have tons of ads that distract from the actual content or don’t actually resonate with the intended audience. Maybe, let’s do better!
THE BRIEF
Bring independent artists, bands, creators into the fold, literally (puns intended) and tell their story. Invite the audience into the process and even offer them an opportunity to create something and step into the artist’s shoes. It’s not another photo book or even looks at surf culture, there’s too much of that crap.
INSIGHTS & LEARNINGS
THIS IS EXPENSIVE AS FUCK and time consuming! I need some friggen help!
THE BRANDING
Created with the idea that this book should appear as a coffee table book. Something that can be easily recognized and iconic on shelf while remaining flexible to evolution over time. The nameplate base font, sub-font, and cover image collage was specifically chosen to be constant on the cover; elegant and approachable for the eyes of a typical corporate persona or avid independent publication reader. A trick, really, to invite the unsuspecting into what can sometimes be full of narrative and compositional chaos built to represent how insane and how unforgiving the independent world of creativity can be. Inspired by those before us like the infamous Ray-Gun, Monster Children, Drift, and many others.
The primary color system, consisting of blacks, grays, and whites is neutral to allow the art within to stand out above the branding. It’s not about “Pigeon Magazine” it’s about promoting artists and sharing all that they have or are willing to share. “We are the messengers.”
Primary Colors
Online Highlights and Links
PHOTO TREATMENT
The primary photo treatment for cover images, front and back, is a true black and white. Rather than simply remove the color content I carefully curate each image and change the color profile from a camera RGB to Monotone. Then I adjust levels, contrast, exposure, and clarity to create a consistent BW throughout.
Cropping and collaging the images is kept messy and simple using tools like the lasso tool, magic wand, and the occasional pen tool. The reason for this frenetic approach is to provide some inclination to what’s contained within. Each story is different and while some are friendly and approachable, others flow like the art they are representing, truly chaotic and even a little crazy. In the end each cover highlights every story within.
CONTENT STRUCTURE
Overall I aimed for something comfortable and legible when approaching the structure of the book. Generally simple layouts that allowed for content to fluctuate between 1, 2, and 3 columns based on what is available and sticking to the straight forward best practices of editorial design. This creates an experience that does not distract from the content and allows for any moments that need to stand out to truly jump off the pages.
8-12 pt font for body copy with at least 3 additional pts of leading between lines.
-5 tracking throughout, adjusting where needed.
Serif font for readability
Sans Serif font for headings and sub-heads
Free reign customization over feature stories that can ignore all the rules when necessary.
Enjoy the whitespace and let imagery do its job.
Select stories that have a more emotional connection either to the art or have the potential to create one with the reader are selected for specialty printing and tip-in pieces like fold-outs, posters, and puzzles.
THE WEBSITE
I wanted the site to be a bit more up front with how frenetic and a-miss things are in the indie art world. It’s experimental and shifts constantly overall. The backbone is where it’s important as it is designed to be responsive and change at a moments notice throughout. It’s legible but also meant to feel like something’s broken or incomplete.
Blocks of text overlap images with holding shapes that are just a bit too close to the edge of the text. When the window is scaled to the largest possible size on desktop or on mobile everything is seemingly working and simple. However, when viewers tilt their phone unprovoked or scale their window screen to various sizes they are treated to easter eggs throughout. Reveals of hidden images, messages, illustrations, animations, and sometimes extra links to different parts of artist web pages are scattered throughout the stories. It’s a bit of a more organized rebel website inspired by the likes of David Carson, Ray-Gun, and those great rockstar designers before.
My Role: Editor, Creator, Producer, Writer, Interviewer, Designer, Photographer, Illustrator, Animator, Videographer, Motion Designer, Web Designer, Production Artist
Contributors: Countless contributors and the numbers are growing with each issue
Length of Project:
Ongoing