Project Name
The Griff: Making Waves Edition
Project Summary
For this project designers were tasked with creating their own version of the MacEwan student publication, The Griff. This included selecting articles, ideating an overall theme for the publication, and creating a collection of spreads with a new look and aesthetic.
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This project was selected as the second place winner of the 2022 Griff Redesign contest, you can read more about this project in the article here:
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This redesign of the Griff is loud, strong, bold, and active. It showcases the strong, opinionated, and optimistic voice of students through a ‘by students for students’ approach. The design of the magazine reflects this idea through it’s zine and collage aesthetic that pays homage to the zine culture seen in the feminist movement. These politically and socially motivated publications have a hand-made look and feel that showcases the care and passion that went into creating them. Pairing this aesthetic with the Griff will utilize the handmade and connective nature of a zine and help to highlight the content and bring the ‘by students for students’ idea to the forefront of the publication.
The redesigned cover uses a collage with hints as to what’s inside. Many of the images from the collage are indicative of the content on the inside. Some are more symbolic like the plate (it is hinting at the ‘What’s the Beef’ article that suggests cutting out beef for the good of the environment), but some are clear illustrations like the pack of birth control for the ’Gendered Contraception’ article. The cover itself is bold and loud which establishes the tone for the viewer, and the main article titles are seen big and clear on the cover to provide a deeper insight as to what this issue is focusing on.
This edition of the Griff is ‘Making Waves’. Making waves refers to the idea of making change and moving forward. This edition takes the politically and socially active part of the redesign and showcases it by focusing on active and change making articles like ‘Gendered Contraception’ and ‘A Fight For Equality’.
The zine like style is continued in the inside pages of the redesign and it is paired with a contemporary and clean look. The sharp lines, bold colours, and collage graphics juxtapose the negative space to create a dynamic but controlled layout for articles. This dynamism is also present in the grid. The grid utilizes 7 columns which allows for active and dynamic placement of text as well as extra room for graphics in the empty column of space on each page of the layout.
Overall this redesign highlights students and gives them a space to express themselves and their opinions. Its bold and handmade nature will make it engaging and approachable to the students of MacEwan.