Pigeon Magazine
Building a Brand and Content Community
Pigeon Magazine is a true passion project that I’ve created, developed, and turned into a small annual publication focused on a premium printed experience coupled with little things like special fold-outs, stickers, and take-home prints that help bring some of the stories more to life. I made this project with the artist in mind, and for myself, as a way to document the shared stories among friends, fellow artists, and other crafters that have inspired me with their drive and ambitions.
Pigeon Magazine is a form of protest against all of the award ceremonies and publications that only accept payment as a way to submit work. It’s for all the creators that have worked their asses off and submitted to contests, competitions, festivals, publications, galleries, you name it and have had to pay them in order to give their work a shot. It costs money to create, it costs money to promote your work, and it costs money to display it. This project says “FUCK THAT!” We pick a city, focus on that city for that issue and the artists located there. That’s it! Free promo for those that are accepted and willing to share their work and story.
There is some curation happening, the work must be of quality, comprehendible, and readable. “Quality” means that the work is not a one off or one time thing and it must be tangible, printed, or available in some form other than digital only. Also, there are submission instructions that must be followed at a minimum.
Visit the project here: www.thepigeonmag.com
THE PROBLEM
There are too many platforms that are “pay-to-play” and they ignore people that are maybe doing something unconventional, innovative, or just incredible by human standards. This is here to correct that and help promote artists as well as inspire audiences. Awards, gallery exhibitions, or other recognition doesn’t matter.
THE BRIEF
Create a community, a safe space for creators to tell their story, share their work, and invite the world into theirs. Focus on unsigned, fully independent creators. Most importantly, have fun while doing it.
INSIGHTS & LEARNINGS
The cost of print, travel, merchandise, distribution, and man hours does not equate to a profitable business without producing massive quantities. It requires more work in terms of “getting in front of people” or “educating” people” about the topics within. Finding a sponsor, advertiser, and stockist are some of the next steps.
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, Drip, and many others.
The 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.”
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 consist 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.
VOICE & TONE
100% human. Pigeon magazine is not focused on being eloquently put or politically correct. We speak and write the way people do. We do not follow a standard way of writing, but we do adhere to one set of rules, be real and be readable.
Whether it’s an article, narrative, essay, poem, or interview the writing must be of quality. It must be comprehendible, express emotion, ways of thinking, and above all it must inspire or educate readers on “what it takes.”
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.
DESIGN
BE AMBITIOUS! The design of each story fluctuates based on its narrative, what “feels” right, and the content that’s available to support it. As the primary designer and editor behind the book I create additional assets or add to existing content through photo manipulation, illustration, or finding more interesting ways to display each story so that it takes on a life of its own. AI has no place here other than for strategy queues.
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 and maintain the simplicity of the black and white approach. Designed to be responsive throughout and readable but also to feel like something’s broken.
Blocks of text overlap images with white 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 even links to musicians own web pages are scattered throughout the stories.
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