This special interest publication for KMI hits the stands in January. When the editorial team wanted tons of benefit-oriented sell lines, here’s what we pulled out of our cover tool box to organize and bring hierarchy to the page. With expert eye of circulation expert Scott Bullock www.coverssell.com this cover accomplishes a lot in a small space. View Full Article »
In anticipation of Magazines Canada’s 6th annual MagNet conference, Magazines Canada and K9 Design are pleased to present the new MagNet 2012 logo. With a sharp, fresh new look, North America’s largest magazine conference will reintroduce itself in June 2012 as the destination to network and learn, and celebrate Canada’s dynamic magazine industry.
Ho Ho Ho…if you checked out the Toronto Star on the week end, you may have found this little insert. Designed and art directed by our talented Eric McBain, it’s another beautiful piece in the Reporter Series. 250,000 pieces were distributed in the Saturday Toronto Star.
East Coast Living redesign one year later: boosting ad sales and readership.
It’s been one year since East Coast Living launched its new magazine design. The Atlantic Canadian quarterly homes magazine was the winner of the 2010 Magazine Makeover Contest, a national competition presented by us, (K9 Design).
The makeover refreshed the entire magazine, creating a new logo, cover and interior layout. “East Coast Living now has a stronger look and feel and our new contemporary design is catering to our core group of readers but also to younger, urban readers, which is very exciting,” says publisher Patty Baxter.
The new design has also strengthened ad revenues for the magazine. Overall ad revenues have grown by 20 per cent since 2009. Full-page ads increased from 19 per cent in 2009 to 26 per cent in 2011. The amount of national advertisers grew from 15 per cent in 2009 to 27 per cent in 2011. “The redesign has helped energize our ad sales,” Baxter says. “It has built interest and buzz about the magazine, as people see that it’s a modern, sophisticated publication.”
Our founder and creative director, Norm Lourenco, is amazed with the results. “For East Coast Living to have accomplished this level of success proves that when you have the right message married with the correct visual language, it creates a powerful product,” he says. “We couldn’t be happier for the great team at East Coast Living.” – to see a little more on the process and how we came to this design, check out our slide presentation given to the Atlantic Magazine Association where we talked about the importance of magazine redesign and the concepts presented to East Coast Living – on slide share.
A Big shout out to our sponsors on this makeover. We couldn’t have done it without you!
Cover consultation from Circ3
Printing from Ironstone Media
Printing from Annex Printing
Digital Publishing from NXT Book Media
Stock photography from iStock
Traffic on East Coast Living’s redesigned website, launched last year in conjunction with the makeover, has doubled, with a 232 per cent increase in unique visitors and a 214 per cent increase in total visits.
Photo caption: From left: East Coast Living editor Janice Hudson, K9 Design creative director Norm Lourenco, East Coast Living graphic designer Gwen North and East Coast Living production coordinator Dana Edgar.
Their launch cover 2010
In September we were thrilled to be working on the TIFF version of The Reporter (a special insert to the Toronto Star). This over-sized pub is always a joy to work on when you have the luxury of an abundance of white space and large typography – every designers dream.
Watch for the next issue due out at Christmas – it has a wicked new look.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
-John McCrae
Thanks for all your super interest. We have a filled our role and added to our pack! But check back often – you never know when we’ll be looking again.
Cheers!
WE ARE HIRING!
You are a talented and savvy designer who wants a great team and lots of different projects to work on. See the RGD posting here.
You’ll work right beside the creative director, the art director and the studio dog.
You’ll work on cool concepts and other stuff of the greatest excellence, but we’ll be honest… We also have lots of production work: clipping paths, edits, image research and photoshop work (but it could be of Brad and Angelina)! Our studio is small, fun and in the heart of the newly revitalized St. Clair Ave. West neighbourhood, home of the Artscape Wychwood Barns (cool space), the Stockyards (awesome lunches) and the Rushton (wicked outdoor patio for happy hour).
In return we are looking for: a hard worker (we have fun but we work hard and your days will fly by) strong Adobe CS InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator skills; and recent graphic design school education. Details, and care matter to us and to our clients so impeccable attention to detail is a must. You are organized, work independently and can hit the ground running. Magazine layout experience is a definite plus and will get our attention! Must have at least 1 year of studio experience. Fooseball skills, although not a must, are a definite plus.
As much as we would love to talk to you all, please respect the process and send us your resume by e-mail. We’ll be in touch as soon as we can. Only those of interest will be contacted.
We are thrilled to be working with Magazines Canada this year as they launch their popular 2011-2012 “Buy 2, Get 1 Free” Subscription Campaign this year.
As head creative on the campaign, what better way to sell magazines than to show as many of them as you can in a creative and catchy way. Our brilliant art director came up with the idea of the “Waterfall” that allows for many titles and covers to be showcased without doing the same old, same old. The concept was intended to give a sense of scale to the number of titles available and the 3D look intended to give the ad extra punch.
Peter Lebensold, Canada’s famous DM writer, commented this…
“I just last night saw the ad you created for Magazines Canada (the monster “Get Your Free Magazine Subscription Today”), which replaces the As-Canadian-as-Poutine (and other distinctive Canuck terms) that I did for them two years ago, and I wanted to say …
… it’s great.
Further evidence of what great design can do to perk up copy. Good work!”
Thanks Peter!
Summer was a busy time for us at K9, as many great projects were underway for fall.
When I look back over the last 6 months, I always smile with pride at the projects and clients who valued our ideas, admired our expertise, and appreciated our nimble working style. To all of you, thank you!
Our experienced team is always here to interpret what your brand means to you and transform it into communication that resonates with the people you want to reach.
It was a busy summer at K9 and now back to work on our fall collection. Watch for more exciting projects coming soon, right here at www.k9designco.com.
Over the summer we started to work with Canadian Real Estate Magazine as art director and designer.
The latest issue (above) is to hit stands any day now and according to Scott Bullock, at Covers Sell (who is up for 5 out of 30 Canadian Newsstand Awards this year), we nailed it!
Scott’s blog mentions the following comments”
“The October 2011 issue of Canadian Real Estate is set to hit newsstands on September 12th. The cover features W. Brett Wilson, formerly of CBC TV’s hit show The Dragons Den. The new look format, designed by K9 Design, hits all the right notes:
Celebrity
Fabulous Eye Contact
Good use of sky bar area
Clever “gear” style starburst
Bold Type Treatment
Great use of Color to draw the eye down the page
UPC in lower right
Plus sign symbol used to highlight benefits”
Thanks Scott!