Editorial · Print
Common Ground magazine
A redesign for an independent quarterly about food, land and the people who work it.
The problem
Common Ground had wonderful writing buried under a template it had outgrown. The editors wanted a magazine people would keep on the shelf, not recycle.
I built a flexible grid, paired a warm serif with a sharp grotesk and gave photography room to breathe. Each issue now has a different paper stock for its cover, chosen to match the theme.
Outcomes
Sold out
First redesigned issue, 6,000 copies.
+2,400 subscribers
In the year after the redesign.
12-column grid
Flexible enough for essays and recipes.
Stack Awards shortlist
Best original non-fiction.
What I did
- Art direction
- Typography
- Layout system
- Cover design
- Photo editing
- Print production
Project facts
- Client
- Common Ground Quarterly
- Pages
- 148 per issue
- Duration
- 3 issues
- Printer
- Fernwood Press
Readers write to us about the layout now. That has never happened in eleven years.
Process & details
Behind the project
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