Magazine Design & Development for Zerb.

Magazine Design and Development for Zerb, an internationally respected twice yearly magazine.

Challenge

The GTC’s (Guild of Television Cameramen) twice-yearly full-colour journal has been around since 1973, the year after the Guild was started. The hazy origins of its eccentric name may be hidden in the mists of time, but the content of this well-respected magazine is always cutting edge. The GTC trust Toast to design, project manage and create Zerb, a magazine that provides the latest news to its membership every spring and autumn. The challenge is always to move the Magazine Design along and ensure it engages and entertains the membership, promotes retention or sharing of information and therefore potentially increase membership.

Approach

We’ve worked with Zerb since 2007 to design and artwork the magazine. Working closely with the editor and her team, we are continuing to refresh and develop the styling of the magazine and its layout. This level of involvement and quality of working relationship has grown consistently over the years as working processes have changed to take advantages of technological advances such as online project management tools that improve collaborative working practices. Over this time we have seen a gradual, yet constant change or evolution to the layout, structure and overall look and feel of the magazines. For example, pages now use a 2-column grid with broader margins instead of 4 that allows for greater readability, and flexibility to use pull quotes and a slightly larger font for body copy. The benefits of these changes are a much more professional look and greater ease of use for the reader.

Solution

Design and artwork of the 84pp+ magazine from a supplied editorial content plan that outlines layout and proposed structure. Content and images are then supplied and used to populate the plan using the current master pages and guidance provided by the last issue to ensure consistency of style and brand. All changes and updates are logged using the online project management tool that ensures nothing is missed and everything gets updated correctly. By using annotated pdf’s at development and proofing stages, we managed to improve turnaround times and mitigate errors, improving schedules and associated costs in one. The combination of all of the above has meant that magazines now get created and developed quicker and more efficiently while maintaining underlying brand guidelines and values.

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