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BEST OF BEAVER NATION 2023
BEAVER'S DIGEST - SPECIAL EDITION MAGAZINE
PROJECT SCOPE
Art Direction
Print Layout
Illustration
Social Media Design
Marketing Strategy
CREDITS
PHOTOGRAPHERS:
Jess Hume-Pantuso
Ashton Bisner
Kate Zinke
Madison Taylor
Jiratana Tungkawachara
Lily Middleton
Sabrina Dedek
Grace Johnson
Matthew McKenna
ILLUSTRATORS:
Ashton Bisner (Best Celebrity Drama)
BACKGROUND
Best of Beaver Nation is annual issue of Beaver's Digest that was moved to the medium when I served as Creative Lead at Orange Media Network. BOBN was a yearly issue of The Daily Barometer, that features stories written based off of student body votes on categories like "Best Cheap Eats," "Best Bar" & etc... With the move to Beaver's Digest, the editors along with myself led a path for BOBN to become more of a visual powerhouse for OMN, with not only just a magazine to show for it but also a huge effort put into marketing and event planning for the biggest launch party of the year on OSU's campus.
OBJECTIVE
A year prior to this specific issue I had co-led the first ever magazine version of BOBN in 2022, and the theme that we had landed on for that issue was travel and tourism, so for that issue we had designed and made marketing efforts towards a "Visit Corvallis" type of feel. For 2023, I knew I wanted to do something completely different, I had pitched to our editor Sukhjot, to focus on what was the best part of BOBN, the food. I've been reading food magazines, and watching food shows since I was a kid, and I've always dreamed of designing a whole food issue. With this, I focused a lot on the photography of the issue, and how it works consistently throughout the magazine. Our main objective was highlighting these businesses and places in a visual way that they probably haven't ever been showcased in before.
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is it even a picnic
without a checkered blanket?
COVER SHOOT
SHOOTING IN SUMMER FOR A CORVALLIS WINTER AUDIENCE
For a bright picnic scene, we decided to shoot the cover in September while the sun was still a viable option compared to the assured rainy days of winters in Corvallis. As cover director for this shoot, I worked really closely with one of our best in-house photographers Jess Hume-Pantuso, in nailing a shot that featured the quintessential Corvallis picnic. Sukhjot Sal, the editor-in-chief of Beaver's Digest and I, always had a warm color palette that felt very retro on mind with the them of this issue, and we carried that out through the specific plates and foods feature on this cover.
yup, that's me
hand modelling :)
COLORS
#C54B2F
#EE7442
#F7A226
#196A64
#FFDEAE
Color played a crucial role in this project, because it set the tone and mood for the magazine and the campaign. Each color helped differentiate stories in the layout of the issue, and are key visual indicators.
MAGAZINE
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With an emphasis on food, I put forth a big push for flat-lay food photography for all the restaurant stories. I worked closely with photographers and writers in getting the perfect shots for me to edit and lay down elegantly on each page.
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the concept of having photos of a dish being eaten incrementally was a big inspiration for the emphasis of food in this magazine.
SIDE COLUMNS
With the implementation of side columns and secondary stories on spreads, I pitched a cool marketing strategy for BOBN that we've never done before, to include survey results from Beaver's Digest Instagram stories about things that relate to pop culture and lifestyle. This was a way for us to simultaneously advertise the issue and include more audience input.
every side column was color matched to the story it shared the spread with
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BEST SPOTS TO NAP
ON CAMPUS
Inspired by Google Maps
HOW DO YOU FIND CONNECTION?
Inspired by Tinder & IOS
WHAT ARE
YOU READING?
Inspired by Apple Books
WHO WILL RELEASE AN ALBUM NEXT?
Inspired by Spotify
WHAT STEAMING SERVICE NEEDS TO RETIRE
Inspired by TV Remotes
WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN LISTENING TO?
Inspired by Apple Music
WHAT WERE YOU WATCHING THIS YEAR?
Inspired by Netflix
I wanted to design the columns based on ui/ux designs that you would normally never see in print. Almost all the columns were inspired by a piece of tech I had used during the production of the issue.
these survey results also serve as a time capsule of the entertainment and culture of the year
BEST CELEBRITY DRAMA
ICONOGRAPHY
BEST BREAKFAST SPOT
BEST COFFEE
SHOP
BEST DONUT
SHOP
BEST CHEAP EATS
BEST THRIFT STORE
BEST BOBA SHOP
BEST GYM
BEST MUSIC VENUE
BEST DINNER
SPOT
BEST ICE CREAM
BEST BAR
BEST LOCAL
BAND
BEST GROCERY
STORE
BEST PIZZA JOINT
For each category, I illustrated icons that could easily be visuall cues to the reader. They also appear in all of the marketing materials.
KEY ELEMENTS
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For each spread I included a graph or chart to show the results for the vote share on the top 3 places.
DATA VISUALIZATION
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Putting emphasis on specific quotes helps break up the design and adds a fun element for the reader to take in.
PULL QUOTES
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I like to start all my magazine spreads with a drop cap to add some consistency to the headline.
DROP CAPS
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Any page featuring food flat lays had lines indicating what items were, this was to provide context to important items
FOOD LABELS
SURVEY CAMPAIGN
GETTING PEOPLE TO VOTE
Before any of the magazine process happened, we started the BOBN campaign almost 4 months before the magazine was on stands. The first step in this process was getting survey results from the student body. We did several campaigns including using Instagram stories to narrow down choices, to producing artwork and posters to draw people in to the actual surveying.
this led to over 200 responses for the magazine's campaign's survey.
LAUNCH PARTY
For every magazine release, we hold a launch party to celebrate and get the word out about the magazine. When I first entered OMN, I decided that deliverables that become memorabilia about the event should be at the forefront of our marketing strategy. This led to the creation of things like photo booth strips, posters, postcards etc.
POSTERS
STICKER SHEETS
PHOTO BOOTH STRIPS
POSTCARDS
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I will always love a carousel, the feeling of swiping and the pciture being continuous, is always a big draw for me.
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SOCIAL MEDIA
With the big rebrand of the Instagram brand for Beaver's Digest and the push to giving each magazine it's own identity, I knew Instagram was the perfect place to carry our stories over to a digital format in a cohesive way. By including the illustrated icons, our BOBN orange and logo, the physical to digital transition was seamless for our audience.
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