'Biota' Magazine

December 2023

This project was part of a module during my third year at university.
I created a magazine that shares information and education on animal conservation, called ‘Biota’, the magazine would include stories on issues animals face, interviews with experts, current conservation news and photo essays.
Due to the nature of the topic, I didn’t want to create a design that was too experimental, I leant into grunge textures to represent the degradation of animal habitats and to somewhat represent activism.

MastheadThe masthead was one of the initial things I worked on for this project, as creating this would allow me to set the tone for the rest of the magazine.
I went through a number of iterations with this, as I was also still deciding on the style of magazine I wanted to create, whether it would focus on the educational aspect or lean into the conservation and gritty realism.
After more thought and feedback I settled on continuing with the gritty realism concept, leaning into grunge textures and activism themes.

Early illustrator file of masthead concepts

Concept using Chantal, leaning into educational/’fun’ theme

Concept using Baskerville, looking at a more serious theme

Concept using Acumin, utilising texture to symbolise degradation of wild habitats and an extra-condensed typeface tracked together to make it appear almost like a stamp

Developing first articleI began developing the first article, looking at text column layout options, article covers, pull quotes, imagery, etc. This first article is also the feature article of issue one of the magazine, meaning I could go a little more flashy with the article cover, which I leant into eventually by using a full spread for the article cover.
Something I struggled with throughout this project was the identity and personality of the magazine; I wanted it to feel serious and respectful of the topics, however, this lead to my designs feeling subdued initially as I was afraid to be experimental with the design.

Feature article cover spread v01

Feature article cover spread v02

Feature article cover spread v03

Feature article cover spread v04

Feature article cover spread v05

Feature article cover spread v06, moved to using a full spread for the cover page

Feature article first text spread, this spread would appear after the full spread article cover, began looking at sections and pull quotes

Feature article first text spread v04, trying new typefaces, new imagery, positions for captions, and text wrap on pull quotes

Pull quotesAs I got further into this project, in an effort to give the magazine a more recognisable personality I revisited my pull quotes to see how I could redesign them to continue/reinforce themes from elsewhere.
For the final design of the pull quotes I decided on using colour blocks with similar textures applied, continuing the grunge textures used on the article covers and masthead. Having each line of the pull quote on a separate block allowed me to misalign them deliberately to reinforce the visual motif of these being imperfect paint blocks and appearing almost like protest signs.

Centre-aligned with text-wrap indent into the text column

Updated to use Acumin, with the same typesetting as the masthead and article covers

Changed from full justified to right aligned and reset tracking to improve legibility

Repositioned to fit with new main text layout

Added grunge texture block for a stronger visual and better theme continuity

Revisited grunge texture block to be less harsh on the page while creating a more dynamic visual

New directionChanges made to the pull quotes reflect decisions made elsewhere as I moved the visual direction of the magazine to be less ‘clean’ all round, the goal was to reflect better the themes and topics being discussed in the magazine, these aren’t light-hearted topics and so the imagery and design should reflect that in some way.
This included changing imagery that looked too ‘happy’, a more dramatic use of imagery and the introduction of textured colour blocks across the magazine in different capacities, such as behind the folios and running heads, as well as other minor changes to things like the structure of content.
Imagery changes mainly focused on introducing images that actually showed what was happening to the animals, rather than just showing professional animal photography that didn’t really add anything to the conversation; The fur trade article now shows an image of a rack of fur pelts for sale, the amphibians article now shows imagery of an oil spill that is affecting anything with semi-permeable skin, notably amphibians, immensely.

Page from fur trade article pre-change

Page from fur trade article post-change

Page from amphibians article pre-change

Page from amphibians article post-change

Cover development

Initial concept

Variant of initial concept using issue’s feature colour

Testing new ways of using masthead and imagery

Typography-only concept

Idea utilising closeup of issue’s feature article’s animal

Issue 2 concept

Issue 3 concept

A lot of my inspiration for this project’s topic and its content, such as images, came from Alveus Sanctuary, a non-profit animal sanctuary that functions as a virtual education centre via online streaming services like Twitch and YouTube. Alveus features educational talks and collaborations with other online content creators to spread awareness of topics similar to those I’ve touched on within my magazine.

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