Top Down Magazine is all about convertibles, old and new. It covers content such as the history of convertibles, stories about how people got their convertibles, and fun trivia and facts. I wanted to create a magazine that had rich story telling and content that both genders could enjoy. Top Down is less about car parts and comparisons and more about sharing people's experiences and stories that readers can connect to.
ADDITIONAL INFO
This was a school project and the magazine was 24 pages. Each student had 11 weeks to come up with their own concept and design the masthead, editorial layouts, advertisements, and provide their own written copy for at least one feature article. Also, for time purposes the class approached the design of the ads in a different way. We took existing ads, found new photos, and arranged a new layout using the same copy and company brand.
COVER & MASTHEAD
I hand-crafted a classic looking masthead that was inspired by vintage car emblems. Here a dark gray worked best and the magazine tagline "Open Air Cruising" floats below. For the cover design, I took the photos of the cars myself at a classic car show I went to. I wanted one car to be the main feature and the other to showcase the convertible top in transition. The background photo took the longest to find, but it was worth it! All of my images were found through Creative Commons licenses, except for the ones I took myself, and I think this coastline photo worked out well with the red convertible.
Little Old Red is an original and fictional story I wrote for the
"Storyteller" section in the magazine and I had a lot of fun writing it.
The feature article titled Blast from the Past begins with an opening illustration, and continues with a timeline history of convertibles and a spotlight on the popular convertibles in TV and movies. Since the article has a lot of historical information, I wanted my opening illustration to have the same feel. I used vintage newpaper clippings in the background and thorughout the spreads I used color to guide the reader through timelines and important highlights. This part of the magazine was my favorite to design as I got to incorporate my illustrations. I took inspiration from the old-lettering styles of the Sanborn Map Company for the opening spread.
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