Custom Publishing

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, March 1, 2004

Byline: Mario R. Garcia

These days, when consumers get custom publications from banks, brokerages, automakers, insurance or pharmaceutical companies, it's hard to tell the difference between them and mainstream magazines. That's a tribute to how far design has evolved in just a few years in this category. "The biggest mistake companies make is creating something that reads like a marketing piece," says John Miller, one of my colleagues at Garcia Media. "Readers are savvy enough to know when they are being sold. Remember, custom publishing is not a brochure, it is a magazine."

What are some design trends and tips for making sure that these products continue to grow? Basically, they are, in my opinion, very similar to what we all need to use, regardless of the publication we are designing, as reader expectations and the handling of our products are similar:

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Create a design that emphasizes simplicity and functionality. Especially on the cover, go for hierarchy: Where do I look first, second and third? Be specific with cover navigators. The mini table of contents works best here, complete with page numbers. Keep it clean: Not every story you sell me on the cover needs an image; words can send me there just as well.

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Orchestrate a good symphony by varying tempos throughout the magazine: I'd like to enter through a relaxing spread or two, doing more looking than reading, but then give me the staccato of pages where I do more finger reading than contemplative narrative reading. Then bring me back to the contemplative mode. End with a nice short piece that sends me, and I'll be back for more.

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Establish a mood through type. But surprise me with a font I may have never seen before for a page or two here or there. Typographic monotony is often confused with elegance in custom publishing. We can be more daring and adventurous in typographic exploration.

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While exploring, don't be afraid to break away from the "look and feel" you were told to convey, and detour into territory that titillates - how about a section that looks like a mini newspaper and is printed on newsprint? Why not?

Here are some examples:

TECO Magazine

The cover is about the concerns of utility customers (of Tampa Electric), not trying to push product. Don't tell me about a new solar power initiative you have; tell me how I will save money. Hit the consumers where they live and borrow the best techniques - both reportorial and visual from consumer magazines.

Ringling Circus

The challenge is how to use design strategies from magazines to attract readers to a print product about "The Greatest Show on Earth." The designer must compete with all of the toys in the concession area, and an explosion of color and sound in the arena. We used an oversize format, enormous photos, extended informational captions, pull quotes and short, punchy text. We kept the readers involved with torrid pacing: enormous bleed photos followed by spreads with lots of small images.

Momentum

When Manroland, the German firm which specializes in making gigantic rotary printing presses, wanted to create better internal communications, our team produced this easy-to-navigate minimalist design. It has been a success from the start. Inside, a pastel color palette was created, and white space allows for a sense of "punctuation" between the various elements.

Dr. Mario R. Garcia is CEO and founder of Garcia Media. The firm has done design work for a range of corporations, newspapers and magazines, including TV Guide and The American Spectator.