We designed 8 spreads, modeled after a pre-existing magazine. We also compiled and researched information about a human rights issue to go in the magazine. For our human rights issue, we chose to research bodily autonomy as it relates to abortion, and chose to imitate The New York Times Magazine’s design system and layout due to it being a reputable magazine that tackles serious topics. For our magazine, we created typographic elements, illustrations, and took photographs to accompany our spreads. Two final covers were designed for this magazine, thinking of bodily autonomy and abortion through an activist and conceptual lens.

The New York Times Magazine aims to give readers content that is trustworthy while also critical of events, life, and world issues. It appeals to individuals of all genders mostly between 30 to 49 years old and have at least one college degree. Unlike its newspaper counterpart, the magazine focuses on content outside of serious issues as well, like photography, famous figures, and slice of life. It will often cover serious issues in longer articles with multiple spreads, filled with text and supplemental images and information.

These are NYT Magazine covers from 2017. The middle cover was designed by Matt Willey using a photograph taken by Jack Davidson. Willey is known for using striking images that are more than meets the eye and we wanted to incorporate that into a conceptual image cover. We also wanted an image that spoke to the emotions of the people going through the crisis and was inspired by the facial expressions on these covers.

These spreads are from The New York Magazine's recent November 26th issue. We took inspiration from these more recent magazines to tackle serious issues in a similar fashion, while also taking creative liberties within the confines of NYT Magazine's design system. To showcase broader layout variations of NYT Magazine's designs, we chose to mainly use spread designs for their serious topics while also borrowing design layouts from more lighthearted spreads.

For the typography of The New York Times Magazine, they have special fonts, created by font designers, for all of their copy. “NYT Mag Serif” and “NYT Mag Sans” are the most popular fonts that they use for headlines, body copy, captions, etc. We attempted to acquire these specialized fonts, but they are not for public use. However, we did find variations of these fonts to use for our magazine. Below you will find The New York Times Magazine’s fonts and the fonts we used that were similar. To the left is the serif variation, Adobe Text Pro Regular, and the sans serif variation, Stevie Sans.

For the colors, we used the same ones that The New York Times Magazine used for their important accompanying information. These colors were mainly used in separate columns, away from the main body text, which is how the magazine utilizes these colors to stand out due to white space and to call attention to additional text that expands on the main article. Red fonts are especially used for columns nearest to the margins, while blue text interrupts an article to provide something to the reader. 

For the imagery, we wanted to portray the same intensity that the New York Times Magazine has with its active and compelling images. We used images that showed the gravity and reality of the selected topic. Each image is carefully selected to give a glimpse into the fight for women's rights. Here are some images that we considered and may or may not be in our final magazine spreads.

For the spread layout, we closely followed how The New York Times Magazine set up their spreads and how they paired them with images. The typography and illustrations we wanted to create that were representative of the topic at hand, as well as powerful. The typography was modeled after symbolism/slogans related to the topic of bodily autonomy and the pro-choice movement. The illustrations were made with inspiration from protests which have been a key part of the Women’s rights movement, especially bodily autonomy and the right to abortion.

Final iterations:

These were the final covers that we considered for this magazine. The magazine to the left is Delia's and the magazine to the right is Emilie's.

Taking all of our research about The New York Times Magazine and our ideas about how to represent the issue of bodily autonomy into consideration, we came up with these final spreads. The first four spreads delve into Roe v. Wade and the events and people surrounding its overturn, while the last four spreads contemplate the consequences of the criminalization of abortion in the technological age while considering other countries’ long road to legalizing abortion.

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