Mel Magazine Style Guide
(Design + Art Direction)
2021 brand and art refresh
At the beginning of 2021 I was tasked to create a new style guide for the editorial art direction of MEL Magazine. The site was broken down into 4 sections that needed a cohesive and structured aesthetic. This deck was used to update the Editor and Chief and Art Director on the progress being made as finalized the new look.
Pop culture + Entertainment
Taking inspiration from The Cut (Left) we went forward with this overall look. The grid design allows for a structured layout that would be easy for any production designer to execute, as well as using to grid to create interesting looking shapes and patterns with some flexibility.
Budget style, Grooming + Experimental Beauty
Similar to the above I took my inspiration from The Cut, much like the grid design using a dot vector pattern creates a cohesive look for our style and beauty section. This design would be more rigid as far a creative flexibility for a designer, but masking imagery within the shapes makes decisions fairly easy for any designer streamlining the art process.
X(Y)Extremism
X(Y)Extremism investigates and helps uncover many of the extremist movements currently active in the United States. For this section I took inspiration from the photocopied aesthetic of the punk rock movement. Using simple photocopy textures and half tone patterns it’s very easy for any designer to turn a photograph into an edgy image that feels right for the extremists movements.
@dusk
MEL @ Dusk is the NSFW branch of MEL’s content, diving into all things sex, drugs, and fast food. This section of the site is still being explored aesthetically but we are taking inspiration from collage artists and early pornography magazines.
