Said_Final

Final Presentation: Habitat Magazine December 2015

Jehan Said

Webster formally defines habitat as “the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism”, informally, it is “a person's usual or preferred surroundings.” Habitat Magazine as a publication focuses on topics that effect the readers’ environment, both natural and preferred, and both in the present and in the future. The publication is meant to be more informative to the reader, than entertaining, though it is both. The design of the publication connects the content of the issue to the audience. 

Broadly the audience is literate humans; note the informal definition only pertains to humans, as they are beings of hedonistic choice. Specifically, the audience of Habitat Magazine is 25-40 year olds living in metropolitan areas.  The particular audience this publication speaks to chooses to live in and prefers an unnatural manmade habitat, the infamous concrete jungle. They get pleasure from dining out in ambient light, rather than hearing crickets chirp and seeing stars at a backyard BBQ. Most city dwellers do not farm because the habitat they live in does not support it. They prefer concrete and steel to grass and dirt, but that is not to say they don’t care about the how crops they eat are cultivated or how the meats they consume are slaughtered, fed, or raised. They are concerned with what goes in their bodies, and where it comes from.  This applies to the groceries they are buying at the corner store or having delivered to their door, the meals they are sharing on dates and the catering spreads available to them at business meetings. The audience is health conscious and aware. They are educated in food and life alike. They know what a demi-glaze is. They know the difference between carpaccio and tartare. They are progressive and forward-looking. They are innovative and imaginative. Who is reading Habitat Magazine? The readers are people who care. They care what goes in their bodies. They care about the environment. They care about who is starving and who is gluttonous. They care about the latest developments in science and technology. The readers want to make contributions to society. They are the ones that are most likely developing technologies to make virus resistant crops; they are the ones trying insect-based foods and synthetic meats because they are unable to slaughter the non-existent cow in their backyard for dinner.

Urban dwellers are always looking for ways to improve their habitat and gain a competitive edge.  They are looking to move forward and never back and the magazine focuses on the evolution of habitats for all. 

The primary function of Habitat Magazine is to deliver information about habitats to metropolitan residents. The secondary function is to show how the information is relevant and accessible to this particular group of people. Its tertiary function is to make city dwellers care about what’s in the issue and take an action. The primary function is satisfied in the form of a sixteen-page, 8 x 10.5”, saddle-stitched publication.  The concept is relevant to 25-40 year olds living in the city because they care about where they live and they care about what goes in their body.  The subject matter is of interest to them. They could be investors in tech companies and want to know what start-ups are doing in the food industry. They could be the scientists who are working in labs to develop meat and want to know what other companies are doing.   The departments were specifically selected to work with the interests of urban dwellers- City Spotlight, Game Changers, Business.  The first highlights a city and something new that has come about there.  The second deals with shifts in current trends, in this particular issue it is with farming and food. Lastly, the Business section addresses what’s going in the business-world.  The last function of concept is evoking emotion from the audience.  The images are the main vehicle to stir things within the audience: the cover targets the mind- it makes the reader think and wonder (and therefore open the magazine- success!); the young child, the heart- the reader empathizes; the sandwich, the gut- he salivates; the apartment- for lack of a better word, the loins- he desires.  

The audience has influenced what color palette fonts, images, advertisements and stories were selected for the issue and how the publication evolved. The initial design was less sophisticated and grew to cater to the affluence that often accompanies city life. The target age range and general descriptors were the same, but the salary and lifestyle aspects were taken more into account. At the beginning the design was more in line with the younger part of the age bracket.  As the design progress moved forward all ages were incorporated. The color palette started out playful, and while the same names can be used (concrete grey, sunrise red, etc), the richness of hue and level of saturation matured to more luxurious jewel tones. The base colors for the palette were a green, a yellow, an orange and a grey. 

       

The font choice for body copy and heads is simple sans serif (Avenir).  It is what the audience is accustomed to seeing on screen, as they are technologically literate and reliant. The typeface is also meant to parallel their environment.  The tall, thin font is representative of tall buildings and vertical city spaces. There aren’t large gaping pastures and wide expanses in metropolises. Consider Central Park, it’s big, but it’s long and narrow and runs up and down the island of Manhattan rather than short and wide.  The body copy, headlines and the subheads are all within the same font family. The heads and subheads have thicker line weights or contrasting colors to draw attention. They type is also angular in structure and arrangement like buildings and city-street grids (Boston being an exception). 

Below is how the color palette and type choices shifted.

The images are bold, thought provoking, and take advantage of the education of the reader. The cover is made of binary covered green beans. To some it may just look like produce, but with further investigation the viewer can see the code on the black and on the beans. It makes the reader curious, and want to know what’s inside the publication. The TOC looks like the water droplet is a crystal ball. As the viewer looks in, it is seeing into the future, which is what the TOC is meant to tell you-what you will be reading in the moments ahead.  The blowing seeds also signify the death of the dandelion, but also the new beginnings that await when the seeds settle. The image used for “The Next Green Revolution” subtly hints at evolution; the growing plants mimic man becoming upright. The readers support Darwin; they aren’t the strict conservatives who deny his theory. The sandwich for “How Our Eating Habits will Change” has sprouts and roasted peppers, it’s not a McDonald’s and it’s not a Kraft single slapped between two pieces of white Wonderbread.  Even the grapefruit juice caters to metropolitan inhabitants-some may consider a more sophisticated OJ.

The ads are answers to what the audience wants. They want to dine out (Restaurant Week). They want to upgrade their living space (the Buckminster). They want to bring some of nature into their lives (Niche).

The evolution of the publication- it began as something that would be on par with The Improper Bostonian and grew into something somewhere in between that and Time. In terms of informational content and the stories selected pertains mostly to department articles. In the initial design the departments were sparse in information, but there were so many department articles that this audience would care about, and the audience like to read so the type got smaller and the content grew.  The publication became something more than something you just look through; it became something that you read- on the train to Niche, in the Uber on your way to your reservation for Restaurant Week, and on your couch at the Buckminster.

So here it is...