Austin Home Magazine is the city's premier architecture and interiors periodical. I joined the magazine as Creative Director shortly before the new editor-in-chief, who brought with her a whole new vision. To help usher in the new era, I did a light redesign of the magazine, including the cover, typography, page templates, and art strategy, which launched in our summer 2024 issue.
Spreads from the summer 2024 Issue
Cover
Karen Zabarsky-Blashek, the incoming editor-in-chief, saw an opportunity for a more elevated Austin Home, in dialog with global publications like Apartamento, Dwell, or Cabana. Her inclination was reinforced by the local designers and architects who make up the magazine's core audience: they were asking for a more polished, serious Austin Home.
With this directive, I strove to simplify, cut, and streamline the magazine's templates, starting with the cover. On the left, I set a space for a full bleed photo, and on the right, a crisp black and white text bar. The designated area for cover lines will prevent the kind of awkward text/image overlap that limited earlier cover selections.
The layout change was bold enough to say 'Hey! We've changed!' to shoppers at the Whole Foods checkout, while keeping the familiar logo to ensure brand recognition.
Typography
The new design uses Tenez for headlines and pull quotes, a slightly eccentric serif that gives the book a unique flavor. Supporting fonts Be Vietnam and Blacker Pro are simple, elegant options legible at small sizes.
Page Templates
The bread and butter of Austin Home has always been photo tours of new and notable homes; the new philosophy aims to continue showing these projects, but to include more editorial reporting and analysis tying them into broader trends and topics. In this redesigned issue, for example, the stories all relate in some way to Nature. The issue discusses ecofriendly building practices, adaptive reuse, construction materials sourced entirely from nature, and the psychological benefits of incorporating plants into the home, among other nature-oriented topics— all explored and explained specifically for Austin locals.
This new approach to content will be woven through every issue, calling for a new look to match.
Right: New section openers
These pages split the magazine into its main sections (Accents, Features, etc.) The new design (far right) conveys a slightly more scholarly tone. I cut the pops of color, graphic embellishments, and buttons and badges.
Below: New 'Elements' Spread
Here's an example of one of the recurring articles, an 'Elements' round up showing locally sourced home goods. The tighter text fitting, more uniform type treatments, and grid-like layout encourage the reader to interpret the items as related (in this case, via a connection to nature) rather than just as a fun assortment of random goods.
Feature Layout
While the previous design allowed for freeform, interpretive feature spreads, the new look uses templated layouts. It opts for consistency over dynamism, and relies of the photography and headline type for visual impact.
I also designed a 'credits' block to list the contributors to each featured project.
This modular section allows readers to easily gather the most important facts about the project (its name, architect, interior designer, etc). Not only is this more informative for the reader than having to scour the article, but it gives us a chance to credit all of the parties involved.
Art Direction
The new philosophy ('more than just home tours') called for new imagery, as well. I directed a custom photoshoot with Likeness Studio for the issue's cover and feature story that wove together several relevant threads - a key local figure, Amy Hovis, on a tour of her plant nursery, featuring native species and landscaping strategies.
Behind the scenes with Likeness Studio at Barton Springs Nursery; Final images laid out in a spread.
Inspired by Cabana magazine, which uses decorative patterns for each issue cover, I sourced high res fine art images to use as illustrations. I collected a small library of paintings, wallpapers, and textiles to add beauty and showcase obscure art images.
