Some designers find technical illustrations dull and without style, but to me they present a unique challenge. For Propeller Health‘s User Guide, a one point line needed to represent a three-dimensional object and demonstrate how the device worked to both children and adults. Working from both photographs and previous illustrations, I created clear imagery that was consistent throughout the 24-page black and white booklet.
Some photo shoots simply don’t go as planned. And at a monthly publication with a minuscule staff, there are no do-overs. So there have been many instances at BRAVA when the feature has relied on clever design alone to make it successful.
This month, we featured an amazing documentary film maker who finished a piece on Egyptian women’s politics during the Arab Spring protests, while experiencing the political protests taking place right here in Wisconsin. Since the article was framed in the dichotomy of her two homes and juxtaposed these movements—and because we had a lot of the same portrait with different facial expressions from her shoot—the design became about the subject’s two selves and the many, often compartmentalized, facets of one’s personality. It proved to be a successful solution, if I do say so myself!
Whether it’s working with a local boutique to ensure their goods support our editorial direction or simply making heads and tails of a pile of product that’s appeared in my office, product styling is an essential skill. It can be as simple as acting as liaison between the editors and photographers or as involved as actually setting up the shot and specifying focus and lighting, I’m perfectly comfortable in either situation.
Some of my favorite product features were simple one-pagers in BRAVA’s “Live” or “Thrive” department. Often featuring home goods, cosmetics or accessories, a great assemblage of product is like a little gem in these pages—a little spot of beauty every reader can appreciate.
Jill came to me a few weeks after her destination wedding hoping I could save the photos from the big day she hoped to cherish for years to come. The day before her wedding, she had accidentally gotten a pretty significant sunburn and was hoping I could remove the redness from her chest and shoulders along with a well-defined line across her back.
I removed the magenta tones from her skin on each image individually, taking care to preserve the integrity and quality of the photos so they could be professionally printed at a large size.
Outback Therapeutic Expeditions is a wilderness therapy company based in Utah. Many of their programs employ an elaborate language of symbols inspired by Australian Aborigine artwork. When one of the counselors was creating the framework for a new program launching this fall, he asked me to create the symbology for it. Based on his sketches and descriptions, I created new vector-based symbols and shapes for tokens the students earn as they move through the program.
Sometimes the simplest articles are the best. For September’s shopping guide, BRAVA’s fashion coordinator and I spent a few days scouting our favorite local shops and pinpointed trend colors on which to base the feature. We brought all the product to the studio, where we styled and shot each piece on a simple white background. After cleaning up the shots in Photoshop, I assembled them into a quirky mosaic with lots of white space—creating content that was interesting while giving readers a break between heavier articles.
On a busy fashion shoot day, sometimes the perfect pose and the perfect outfit just don’t happen at the same time. This month, our model struck a killer pose in blue pants, but in layout we discovered we didn’t have any good shots of her in a gorgeous poppy red pair of the same style. Art Director to the rescue! I was able to change the blue to red and match the actual shade of the garment so the retailer was happy too.
At the heart of every issue of BRAVA are the women whose stories we tell. They’re not professional models and they’re not always comfortable in front of the camera—but they’re shaping our community and inspiring our readers.
Not only do I coordinate the logistics of each shoot and direct the photographer, but I make sure our featured woman feels confident every step of the way. Nearly every month, I get an email along the lines of this one from our August 2010 model, “I really enjoyed working with you and [your photographer] David and felt like a supermodel for the morning! You both made me feel very comfortable and relaxed. Thank you.”
Until Friday, April 10 (a day I’ll never forget!) I worked full time at a local women’s magazine called brava. It ceased operations and left about a dozen wonderfully creative people without jobs. Half of that group stuck together to try to figure out a way to work together to get brava back into production. I finally have good—no, great—news to report: brava is back! Here’s the official press release:
BRAVA MAGAZINE AND MADISON WOMEN’S EXPO ANNOUNCE RELAUNCH
Brava magazine confirms release date of August 1, 2009Madison, Wis. — June 4, 2009 — Brava magazine, the monthly lifestyle publication dedicated to celebrating the lives of women in south central Wisconsin, announces it will re-launch the popular magazine on August 1, 2009.
Erickson Publishing, LLC, former publisher of brava magazine, its sister publication the annual encore edition and producer of the Madison Women’s Expo suspended operations in April. The fate of the products was unknown. Kristin Erickson, owner of Erickson Publishing, LLC, is happy to have sold the business to a core group of former employees. “I am so proud of the impact brava made to our readers, our advertisers and the community as a whole,” Erickson says. “It was extremely hard to suspend publication, and I am absolutely thrilled that this team of talented professionals will continue to take the products to new exciting levels. I am delighted to pass the baton to Laura Houlihan.” Erickson will also remain working with the team as a consultant.
“The team is assembled and has been working behind the scenes for weeks in the hopes the purchase would go through,” says Houlihan, the newly named publisher of the magazine. Houlihan brings to the table her past experience running Skirt Magazine in Jacksonville, Fla., as well as her sales experience at brava. “The outpouring of support from our readership and advertisers has been amazing. We couldn’t let it die,” says Houlihan. “It’s like having our family back together.”
The Madison Women’s Expo, a yearly event produced by brava and held the weekend before Thanksgiving will also return for its 11th year. Marketing and Events Director, Michelle Page-Alswager, will remain at the helm. “What can I say? Women look forward to this event and exhibitors love the results they get from the thousands of attendees visiting them. It’s the perfect tie in — the premier women’s magazine in south central Wisconsin, and the best Women’s Expo, I’m lucky to be part of both,” states Page-Alswager.
More information to follow.
For more information, contact Michelle Page-Alswager at (608) 235-3857 or Laura Houlihan at 608-609-9149 or holdthathought@gmail.com.
As always, you can follow our progress at our interim blog, hold that thought, although I can’t make any promises for regular updates since we’ll be working so hard to get this magazine launched. Feel free to leave any comments here or there as to what you’d like to see in brava as it moves forward.
Kristin Joiner 