Aperture Quarterly
Aperture Quarterly publishes long-form photo essays four times a year. After eleven issues the magazine had accumulated four competing grids, three typefaces and no reliable way to give an image room to breathe.
Context
The editorial team wanted the pictures to carry the issue, but every layout decision was being made from scratch. Production ran late, contributors received inconsistent specifications, and the covers no longer read as one publication on a shelf.
Approach
We rebuilt the magazine on a twelve-column grid with a fixed baseline and only two type sizes for body copy. A small set of image ratios — full bleed, half page, and a narrow column plate — became the entire visual vocabulary. Everything else is whitespace and sequencing.
Outcome
The redesign shipped with issue twelve. Layout time per feature dropped sharply, contributors now work from a two-page spec, and the covers finally sit together as a series.
Project details
- Role
- Creative direction, design
- Deliverables
- Grid system, type spec, 3 issues
- Team
- Studio of two, in-house editor
- Duration
- Five months
Have something in mind?
The studio takes on a small number of projects each year. A short note about what you are making is enough to start.