It looks as though we have all heard the comments and revised accordingly. Whether it was going back to the drawing boards (literally), or just taking a new visual direction, there are some pretty major changes to the covers. Click on the thumbnails above for a better look. Keep the comments coming and we will keep improving these concepts.

If you missed the late addition of the design brief in last round’s post, you might want check it to see if the four teams are on track. If you want to link to the entire process and not just one post, we have a page where all of the STEP Off posts will be archived. www.beadesigngroup.com/blog/archives/step_off/

Ding Ding Ding. Round 2 is on, so STEP Off…

TEAM 1:

So we’ve put the meat concept on the chopping block, and after discussing several directions, decided on another food group for our metaphor… pie. We wanted something that people are fanatic about. Something that also had a sense of competition and evaluation to it… like wine, ball room dancing and dog shows. Something that is mysterious to many, but has a definite language and complexity to the fanatics that follow it. Pie fit that mold. It also makes for a nice play on Step’s “Design from the inside out” statement.

Some may argue that the crust of a good pie is first, but I think most of us think first of what’s inside. Is it blueberry, banana cream, pecan, etc.? And most of the time that inside is hidden until you truly cut into it. And even then, you can’t tell a thing about a pie until you sink your teeth into it. One has to get on the inside of a pie to know its quality.

The Step competition attempts to “get on the inside” of 100 designs. Giving us more than pages of glossy photos… trying to give us a real taste for the designs and their context.

The sketch supplied here explores the pie metaphor on several levels. It is designed to explore a hierarchy of information in the following stages of design. The critical factors are the inside view of the pie, the graphic arrow directing the viewer to the “inside” and to the awareness of step’s unique approach to the “design competition.” “Outside views of pies (top views of pie crusts) are background elements, subtle and almost wall paper-like. “Blue ribbons,” reinforce the idea of competition.

TEAM 2:

The biggest temptation (and probably the worst mistake) would be to build a perfectly square grid of our found “100” photo collection. As I considered the structure that our photos would live in, I wanted something that rewarded the viewer. I might get in trouble for making this comparison, but one of the things I love about the redesign of HOW was how they challenge their cover designer to use the giant word “HOW” in their image. When I looked at the STEP masthead, I tried to think of a way to incorporate the masthead in a similar way. I liked the way that “STEP” is created with the negative space of the black bar. It is basically made of five negative shapes. The shapes are much more interesting than a square, so I decided to repeat those five shapes and build a structure. I played with them until I found one I liked, than started filling them with the “100” photos we have collected so far. I also filled the shapes of the masthead with photos so that for a change the “design could be inside STEP” (pun intended).

The benefit of having the word STEP in the negative space is that when you repeat the 5 shapes, it starts to make the masthead almost disappear. You might think that being invisible is a bad thing for a magazine trying to stand out on the newstand right? Wrong. When someone sees a magazine that isn’t trying to use their masthead to scream at the passersby, it will catch them by surprise. When they take a second look (that is our goal, right?) they solve the riddle and feel rewarded. Now they are focused completely on our magazine, and all the others disappear. They are further rewarded by finding all the “100’s” and then make the connection to the theme of the magazine. The reader enjoys the experience so much that they buy two copies so they can share the mag with their friends. (In the business of graphic design, this is what we call creative rational.)

As you can see, there is a bunch of black space on the cover waiting to be filled by your photography. Hurry up and add your photos to our Flickr photo pool with the tag “STEP 100.” Space is running out.

TEAM 3:

First of all, we’d like to thank everyone who enjoyed the pencil-sketch style of our rough. Pencil-drawn artwork, however, would be tough to use to create a strong and compelling visual on a magazine rack. You may notice, however, that we are still in black and white. Color is very important, and we’re in no rush to finalize our color pallet. Besides which, if it doesn’t work in black and white, its certainly not going to work in color.

The concept, described last time as “too clever,” has been slightly tweaked into a new direction that cuts more to the point. Instead of “Decoding,” we now have “unlocking.” My teammate may kill me for that move, I’m not sure.

Again, the nature of this project dictates that we are still in a very rough stage of design and what you are looking at here is very far from final. That should be pretty evident from the bizzaro-mix of photography and vector-art. But don’t you worry. We’ve got a long way to go before we get to the final.

TEAM 4:

After reading Emily’s (STEP editor) comments, among others, about our cover appearing to look too much like a previous issue dedicated to type, we changed the main graphic. So we set out on our quest to find a new graphic. JonSel mentioned in the last post that if we try to set a trend on our cover that we better make it good. Since we were unable to come up with a ground breaking trend, we decided to head in the complete opposite direction. What is the opposite of a trend? How about something found in nature, or how about something that embraces the grid and formalistic design? We decided to go with both. The Fibonacci Spiral (and the Golden Section) has been used in design since design was called design and of course it is found in nature. So we took the basic shape and went from there. We also adjusted the copy to incorporate the inclusion of the spiral. We have a little more space for cover lines, but we still need more tweaking.

Comments (20)

Andrew Kopietz said:

I think all of these are very rich in concepts and have a great potential to catch the reader’s eye graphically. It would really be hard for me to critique any of these but something that kind of fussed with my eye (and it’s very minor) was #3’s type for the subtitle: “Unlocking the Secrets of Great Design”. In this case i’m not sure if that typeface is the strongest in terms of character and i’d like to se something different that could stand out without a stroke encompassing all the letters. It just seemed a tad generic and somewhat plain but besides that, i think the concept is great.

Can’t wait to see how these keep evolving. Good luck!

Posted on January 7, 2006

anonymous said:

team 2.. I like what you’ve got so far. I hope you don’t fill all that negative space.. In fact, if you look at your current incarnation.. I think you’ve got something. It looks like a riff on puzzles… the unsaid and the implied. It’s bold.. I think the ahha is in it

JonSel said:

So you guys are stepping up your game, eh?

Team 1: I think you are dramatically over-rationalizing your concept. It’s pie. We get it. I like it. What’s cooking in design. It’s much improved from the meat concept. Pie is more special than an unadorned hunk of beef. Now I want to see how this is going to be realized. Is this graphic? Is this a photograph of a pie? The floating pie might be a bit confusing. Should it feel like a Martha Stewart set? The wallpaper-style background is interesting as well. Much improved from the meat.

Team 2: What a great image. I love the puzzle approach to generating an overall picture of design from the previous year. Interesting to see how the nameplate shows up fairly well in the small-size jpg, but is much harder to decipher in the larger view. This goes directly against the design brief, which states the logo should appear to be “slapped on”. I’m all for engaging the viewer and forcing them into the game. But will this work well enough on a magazine stand? The top images might need some color cohesion to make the logo more readable.

Team 3: I loved the pencil sketch, but I never assumed that would be its final form. I think you might have a better visual if you ditch the background completely. There’s so much to take in with either the decoder wheel or the multi-dialed lock that the background texture is unnecessary. So is this going to be a comped 3-D visual that is then photographed? I think an illustration would not be right.

Team 4: Much improved. I don’t think a design covering trends HAS to be trendsetting in itself, so I’m glad that you’ve given yourself permission to move on from that. Does the copy still relate to points on the spiral? It’s unclear. I want to find a link between the two and be able to follow it and discover things within it, but right now I’m missing it.

mamachristy said:

I’m delurking to comment on these covers and to say how much I love this blog.

I love this blog. It’s cool.

That said, here are my comments:

Team 1: I get WHY you’d like the idea of food. The pie IS a vast improvement over the meat since it requires a good deal of skill to create an award-winning product. While I “get” it, I don’t like it. It feels too much like you’re trying to break down design for the masses and saying “let’s compare it to a pie contest and maybe they will understand what we’re doing here.” On a positive note, if that’s a blueberry pie it looks delicious.

Team 2: JonSel hit the mark on this one. GREAT idea and wonderful execution, but something to distinguish the masthead is really necessary, I think. Your justification is complete and I understand the part about engaging potential readers - and your “creative rational” is endearingly optimistic - but let’s not confuse them. Similar satisfaction can be found by figuring out the pattern with the masthead being a little more clear.

Team 3: I really love this idea. “Unlocking” was the perfect alteration and I’m curious to see this more fleshed out. I would like to see it more of a vault looking kind of lock. A more combination dial graphic would be really strong providing an indication that good design is both difficult to figure out and valuable.

Team 4: This is very polished and finished looking. I love the color palette and Fibonacci Spiral, but I think there is too much text. Put only the most important things on the front and get to all that nitty-gritty on the inside.

To All: Good work!

Team 4 said:

If you would like to see the text a little closer up, here is a larger zoomed in jpeg (172kb).

billdo said:

So… my favorite right now is the “100” cover.

Love the copy on #4 “Emigre is still dead.” That made me laugh out loud.

The combination is not looking so good. Bad type choice on the lock… and PLEASE do not stroke the headline type. I think this whole concept is too literal in my honest opinion.

1 … i think the pie might be a little soft for a STEP cover. Maybe a fetus? Sonogram style?

On another note, word to Christopher Morlan (who graduated with me) for getting his portfolio featured for several pages in the new STEP.

ChrisM70 said:

First, I am liking the new designs better than I did in round 1.

Design No. 1 I like the pie idea better, but it doesn’t wow me, either. How about a picture of just one BIG slice? Just a “pie morsel” skewered on a fork? A photo of a smiling face with pie on their face? I think this one has potential.

Design No. 2. I was really unsure about the idea of lots of repeating photos, but I really like this design. I like the repeating hidden “STEP” and the spot pics repeating 100. It also mimics the BADG style which kind of puts BADG’s mark on the mag. My immediate reaction was also that there wasn’t enough color spread into the bottom right quarter of the cover. Right now, this cover is my favorite.

Design No. 3. I must say that I disagree with the idea that a pencil drawing on the cover couldn’t be a striking design that would grab attention. How many covers do you see done in pencil? Not many. However, I understand that this is a slightly different direction, going with “unlocking a secret”. I think the decoder circle needs to be more clearly defined, because currently, I don’t think it’s very clear. I also don’t care for the peeling background.
Perhaps going with “mysterious shadows” and a very film noir spy theme? It’s still a very interesting idea.

Design No. 4. Much better. I really like the color scheme and I really like the spiral (much more movement - less static-looking), the illusion of depth and the theme behind it. I still don’t like all the copy on the cover - it just seems like a lot of copy for a cover. All in all, this cover is MUCH improved. Perhaps make a connection between the golden section and striking gold (i.e. a great trend)?

Can’t wait to see round 3! Thanks for this opportunity to voice my opinion and my brainstormed ideas.
Good Luck!

zjgray said:

O.K.

Team One:

Well, I think that we need to delve a little deeper into the public perception of quality. Now, if the product metaphor was done in a really, overly campy way, perhpaps with a faux package design advertising “Grade A Designs”, featuring a picture of some product (a beef cattle, produce, pies, etc.) we would get the hint by some direct comparison.

Push your concept to include the throwback advertising aesthetic, and you’ll have effectively made all of the conceptual stuff meet on the other side. After all, what are we doing most of the time but helping companies to peddle their wares, so let’s celebrate that.

House Industries does a lovely job of this schtick, often mimicking model car kit boxes and so on that provide stylistic and conceptual parallels to their products and messages.

Team Two:

Beautiful design, but, seems a bit mainstream. Might interest young design students who haven’t delved very far into STEP’s publications, though.

As was said earlier, I read all of those 100s and still only feel like I’ve read “100” over and over.

I think, in order to better communicate the magnitude of this issue, it would be better to focus on the quality than the quantity.

Not too sure how to salvage this concept without it being too obvious or tired.

Team Three:

If you nailed the rendering of the lock, you would win, hands down. Skip the background, and don’t bother with additional copy. As stated earlier, the “lock” visual suggests the complexity and the value of a good design solution. That cocept can work well all by itself.

I think some hardcore research of the look and feel of locks and other mechanical dials, etc. would be in order. Pay special attention to the typography stamped into the parts and how they suggest the manoeuvers they spell out. The graphics on this one really need to be better organized and pared down, and the illustration made to look photorealistic, so that the viewer could imagine walking up to a door and seeing it bolted in place.

I want to be able to read those dials, and then reach up and dial in the combination for an award winning design. I think a tangible manifestation of this unique concept would really drive it home.

Team Four:

Hmm. Fictional timelines with specific dates don’t make any sense to me. They seem trivial and foolish. Stick with relative measures of time, like seasons or months, but not numerical dates. (Documentaries should contain exact dates, projections of this kind should not.)

Also, it would be nice to shorten the text, and maybe make it more cohesive. Try some personifying language and use an active voice. (Jan: The Trend takes a holiday in Europe.) Be declaritive; the copy seems too wandering and not decisive. Milestones should be milestones. Here they are still random musings.

At least establish a hierarchy of information; for example, highlight important words, especially when you drop names like Emigre. Put it in bold or the like. Watch out for corporate disparagement or whatever you call it.

Posted on January 8, 2006

unexpected said:

nothing against this whole look, but it is just another rip of print or how or com arts. the look is generic and the design isn’t groundbreaking or anything. ask yourself what you’re really trying to do and maybe the title wont always appear at the top as expected, even though it’s “good design” because when it’s in a bookshelf it shows its title. to be original you must break the rules so perhaps a few more rounds will help.

Posted on January 9, 2006

Matt Varniçz said:

You now, I like the pie, because it’s bold and graphic, but overall my first reaction to this whole round was “Oh no! None of these have any life to them anymore.”

I realize that I was pretty critical of Round 1, but those had some formal spontaneity to them. These seem really dead. I’m sorry to be a downer. I wish I could join in with the positive chorus, but I can’t. I’m looking forward to Round 3. I hope I’ll cheer with you! Thank you for working hard!

Emily Potts said:

Covers 2 and 3 are working the best for me right now.

1 and 4 need too much explanation, which goes against the point of an effective cover design, plus 4 has too much small copy on it.

Cover 2 is interesting, but it’s probably too distracting and hard to decipher what magazine this is.

I like the concept of “unlocking the secrets” and the image and background are interesting.

Michael Ulrich said:

Team 1 [ Pie ]

A cover concept like this is relatively obvious solution—and I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s a quick visual leap for a newsstand browser to grasp the concept, and that’s good. The success of this concept relies in its execution—a brilliant cover line and perfect photo/illustration. There’s the rub. Pie [ and I love pie ] may be a bit of a stretch. You don’t want it to look like a cooking magazine.The sketch also makes me question cover line placement.

Our cover lines have to be in the upper left corner and be very legible.

Team 2 [ Your Photo Here ]

I hate to be parochial but having an invisible masthead is a bad thing. People can’t buy what they can’t find. [ see HOW ]

Team 3 [ Unlock ]

I like the cover line. With the right execution, this could be a winner [ in my opinion ]

I don’t think a complicated lock is necessary—just a well thought out one.

Team 4 [ Golden Section ]

I like the Fibonacci Spiral and the Golden Section. I once [ after no sleep for 24 hours and a 14 hour overnight drive ] realized that the secret to great design was fractals. Then I got some sleep. Designers as a rule like this kind of stuff [ see “Designologicus 13”, AdamsMorioka ], unfortunately this one isn’t a quick visual leap concept for a cover.

I find this visually interesting, but the pay off has to be in what you read. [ see STEP V21N3, again AdamsMorioka ]

For all teams I’d say. Think simple and quick. Clever is OK, but hard to do.

To echo Michael—-THINK POSTER.

TEAM 4 Member 1 said:

I thought I would offer a little “creative rationale” for our trend timeline idea. The idea was to have something eye catching (the spiral/large T and “Timeline of a Trend” headline) for the newsstand audience, while rewarding the subscribers and purchasers with a little more depth (all that copy). I’m not sure if that is what we have accomplished thus far, but that was the goal. Is there anything wrong with having posteresque graphics with a lot of small detail to digest after you get home? Would it help to make the timeline trend copy less obvious by handwriting it?

Here are a couple successful (in my opinion) GD mag covers that are in line with what I am referring to (i.e. lots of copy). Paula Scher’s “Sex Terror Curruption War” cover for Print. I realize that we are no Paula Scher.

The second example would be Stefan Bucher’s new cover for HOW.

Enid G. Diamond said:

Team #1: I prefer the pie metaphor to the meat as well, it goes a little deeper and has the added bonus of many fillings. The concept is great, but the layout seems a little busy at the moment without packing a major punch. Definite potential. To toss an idea into the ring, the pie theme keeps bringing to mind the olde-tyme fun of a pie-eating contest…

Team #4: This concept is great, I agree that the extra text to read if you buy/subscribe is a nice bonus. All it takes is reading a few lines to get the gist - then you get to hold it up close to your face the whole bus ride home. A good way to upsell that back cover…

This is a perfect inside joke, as it is one that all designers are in on - I think it will be cause for plenty of grins. The spiral idea I like, but the text seems a little too all-over-the-place - tougher to follow than the last layout. Maybe a simpler, basic timeline layout, but on a recent but happily dead trend - printed on an 80’s t-shirt, or a trucker hat? In Copperplate Gothic, of course. Both layouts, and this one in particular bring to mind a subway map. Perhaps the trend could travel from gritty city to a mall in the suburbs on its journey?

What about a human element that needs a little photo shoot? I usually shy away from it, because it’s so much more comforting to do it all at your desk, but it might lead to something interesting.

I think the difference between Team 4’s cover and Paula Sher’s cover is that at a glance, her small copy isn’t integral to understanding the message, it blends into the background and doesn’t distract.

I feel that Team 4’s current design the small copy IS the message, and if you don’t read it, you won’t “get” the cover. I think that if you can figure out a way to convey your message completely WITHOUT the small copy, then you can add all the small type you want to add “bonus” for the reader who invests the time to read the small stuff.

I hope this makes sense. Anyway, just my thoughts.

Posted on January 10, 2006

Paul J. Schleitwiler, FCM said:

For graphic design, I look first to what attracts me from a distance, or, in this case, the thumbnails. The covers of Team 1 and Team 4 invite me in (in keeping with Step Into Design). Team 1’s design is stronger graphically and better in that it evokes an emotional response as well. My vote, therefore, is for the design from Team 1.

Adrian said:

Comments are now closed on this post. Click here to continue the conversation in round three.

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STEP Off: Round 2

by Adrian Hanft, (20 comments)

TEAM 1:

TEAM 2:

TEAM 3:

TEAM 4:

Sponsored by:

Comments (20)

Andrew Kopietz said:

anonymous said:

JonSel said:

mamachristy said:

Team 4 said:

billdo said:

ChrisM70 said:

zjgray said:

unexpected said:

Matt Varniçz said:

Emily Potts said:

Michael Ulrich said:

Matt Varniçz said:

TEAM 4 Member 1 said:

TEAM 4 Member 1 said:

Enid G. Diamond said:

Matt Varniçz said:

ChrisM70 said:

Paul J. Schleitwiler, FCM said:

Adrian said:

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