MAINFRAME MAGAZINE
What’s after what’s next? Mainframe Magazine is a quarterly publication focused on breakout technologies and researchers who are shifting the digital and physical world. Dynamic layout, immersive photography, and navigational elements help to make technical content accessible to all readers. Mainframe's MEDx issue explores the impact of technology in medicine — from VR in the classroom to tiny robots in our blood, our first issue gives readers a multifaceted view of the industry today, and where it's headed tomorrow.
Project Duration - 10w
Roles
— Layout Design
— Brand Design
— Art Direction
Tools
— Adobe InDesign
— Adobe Illustrator
— Adobe Photoshop
Skills
— R&D
— Content Curation
— Brand Identity
Hello, world!
Despite many recent innovations in the field of technology, many people find content associated with tech to be dense and intimidating. Although many tech publications exist, they are often specifically targeted towards industry professionals with pre-existing technical knowledge. A lot of tech magazines are tech for tech people, Mainframe is tech for people.
Concepts surrounding technology can be difficult to grasp without visual explanation. It is often difficult to get people excited about technology, but Mainframe aims to make technical information accessible to a wider audience. We hope to create something that feels more elevated than a typical science magazine.
Under the broad umbrella of medicine there are many different fields, this flagship issue represents several medical archetypes to create a breadth of subject matter. Subjects focus on technology that exists within your body, augments the function of your body, supports the care of your body, and regulation of this technology at the government level.
Style Sheet
Mainframe is
Dynamic
Experimental
Structured
Informative
Marketing Personas
These marketing personas were an early deliverable that allowed for experimentation and development of graphic style that would eventually influence the magazine as a whole. Building the personas also helped provide insight into the types of content three different readers might be interested in.
Experimental
As the branding process continued for this issue, “experimental'' emerged as the primary brand value, not only for the content but the visual identity. Cut type compositions and headline/image interactions tie back directly to the spirit of experimentation. The color system also draws inspiration from experimentation, and is referential to medical labeling and imaging. The cover of this issue is die cut to mimic a file folder. This shape references the genre of information within it — it’s a medical file within itself, containing medical knowledge for the community.
Type
The brand utilizes two main font families across issues, which provides consistency and clear hierarchy. Brand elements like the table of contents and brand name are set in Carbon Regular, a monospaced typeface that draws inspiration from early computer displays. All other type is set in varying weights of Graphik, a widely known and highly accessible sans-serif. Both typefaces were selected for their geometric qualities, which reinforces their connection with the content
Glyphs
Graphic elements tie back to technical symbols — this language extends to all issues of Mainframe. Symbols provide visual interest, offset negative space, and further engage the reader as they progress through the publication.
Layout
After collecting written and photographic content, a flat plan was constructed to provide the underlying structure for the publication. After organizing articles into clear sections, ads and images could be blocked in. This kind of progressive building process results in a publication that the reader can flow through easily
Grid
Mainframe relies on a highly gridded layout to organize and present technical information. This approach draws inspiration from technical documents, and extends to aspects such as container styles. An “odd” grid provides ample opportunities to experiment with balance and structure of articles and accompanying images.
Leading Lines
Small rules sit above each column of text, enhancing the overall layout and providing a visual marker for the reader when they are moving from column to column. Varied colors and lengths help these rules integrate into the overall composition and family with the style of each article.
Content
Content was selected that highlighted emergent technologies within the field of medicine. MEDx includes many facets of the industry in order to familiarize the reader with new concepts quickly. Articles that introduce a human interest element add layers of empathy, connect the subject matter to the real world, and work to further engage the reader with content to follow.
Microscopy Gallery
In the center of the magazine is a gallery of images taken with fluorescence microscopy processes. This kind of content helps to offset more dense feature articles and provide a visual break for the reader. Each issue of Mainframe would have a section similar to this.
Color Stories
Unifying each piece of content with an individualized color palette maintains continuity across multi-page articles. Color decisions tie directly to article content and often involve a combination of solid color application and photo treatment.
Next Steps…
Issue 20.2 Quantum Leap
Developments in the aerospace industry and how they will affect us in space and on Earth.
Issue 20.3 Warp Speed
Next generation computing and what it will unlock for our species