Magazines & newspapers headquartered in New York City and Copenhagen
Ingeniøren, Modern Bride, Money, New York, Oprah, Penge & Privatøkonomi, Teen People, Vogue Knitting, YM, YM Prom, and more
Business Case

Listed above is a sampling of some of the newspapers and magazines I have worked for. Target groups may vary, but publications share a common goal of conveying information that is specifically tailored to their audience’s interests.

The Challenge

In order for a publication to be profitable, it needs to be able to get users/readers to want to read, and become involved with the content for a period of time. It is best if they want to read more than one issue. It has to look like itself but different in every issue. Things such as colors, fonts and layout styles need to be in the same style in order to create unity. It needs to be visually interesting for its target group. It also has a very firm deadline. Printers do not wait.

Money Magazine– New York City, New York
Examples of making finance inviting. Stories of dotcom companies crashing, car safety, all star investors, "spring cleaning" your investments, top company CEOs, and investing in a bear market.
Ingeniøren newspaper– print and digital editions– Copenhagen, Denmark
Making engineering stories interesting to read. Cover stories with compelling images, information graphics used to tell stories. Online graphics gave a measurable increase in online readers.
Modern Bride, YM, YM Prom and Vogue Knitting– New York City, New York
These magazines focused on fashion, beauty, entertainment, and knitting. In most of them, the photography was shot specifically for the publication using models and including hair and makeup artists at the photoshoot. There were celebrities photos that were bought from photo agencies. There was a lot of work that went into the typography adding more depth to the story.
Art Director at Penge og Privatøkonomi Magazine– Copenhagen, Denmark
Penge is a Danish magazine about personal finance. I brought the user through the magazine from the cover to the final investment pages. We often needed to use stock photography, and a lot of time went into finding unique images. I completed a redesign when I arrived at the publication boosting its readership and circulation.
Project Scope & Objectives

Magazines have a lot in common even when they have very different readers. They all need:

» Design and content that engages users.

» Covers that make you want to open the magazine.

» To create a desire for readers to pick up and purchase the magazine.

» To be easy to navigate.

» To keep a user engaged.

» To be sent to the printer on time.

By achieving these objectives the reader should want to come back again when the next issue becomes available, thus keeping advertisers involved in the publication.

Profil Magazine– published once a year by Ingeniøren– Copenhagen, Denmark
The magazine is created with a small staff and a quick turn around time. Design was made stringent with sharp colors and infographics. Cover was shot for the issue. The Kloakkerne (sewer system) story with it's amazing image took use of these principles.
The Solution

✓ Magazines and newspapers successfully published in New York City and Copenhagen.

✓ At Penge og Privatøkonomi, after a redesign circulation increased by 10.5%.

✓ At Ingeniøren, lead the process to get graphics taken out of Flash and instead into HTML5 for viewing on mobile devices.

✓ Money Magazine had a readership of over 1 million readers, and a lot of advertising making it an extremely successful magazine.

✓ Money and YM had award winning design that was included in the yearly book by the Society of Publication Designers.

✓ YM Had a readership of just under 1 million and included a lot of advertising. Users gave it high ratings.

The Team

Art Directors, Photo Editors, Editors and Writers From New York, Singapore and Copenhagen

Designer, Art Directer and Design Director Marci Papineau Gottlieb

Tech Used

» Adobe Creative Cloud » Delta Graph » Excel » Illustrator » InDesign » Photoshop

My Role

» Review reader surveys on a weekly and monthly basis and use as a guide in content creation.
» Create style sheets in InDesign to insure a cohesive look and facilitate in the creation of new layouts.
» Make sure that the publications are easy to navigate.
» Have files ready to be sent to the printer on time.
» Color correct photography.
» Create digital illustrations.
» Art Direct illustrators and photographers.
» Choose typography.
» Choose color palletes.
» Collaborate with all departments including, writers, editors, designers, art directors, publishers, illustrators and photographers.
» Create an issue from the cover to the last page. The contents page is the start of the journey. There are sections that are in every issue that need to be in the same place each time.
» Design and create data visualizations.

Skills Utilized

» Art Direction
» Design
» Digital Design
» Illustration
» Information Graphic Design
» Photo Editing
» Photo retouching

The Process of creating a magazine or newspaper

Step 1 Meet with editors and writers, learn about the stories coming up, and start the process of what visual will be used. Things considered: Photography (stock photo, or a hired photographer)? Illustration (self-made or needs to hire an illustrator)? Type-only design?
In financial stories, are the numbers ready to be made into a graphic? Is there more data that needs to be acquired to help tell the story?

Step 2 After initial meetings, start looking for what to use to visualize the story.

Step 3 Commission art for photographers, illustrators.

Step 4 Start to layout the story (in InDesign).

Step 5 Show layout to managing editor.

Step 6 Make changes as needed.

Step 7 Sign off on the design.

Step 8 Send to editors to edit the story to fit.

Step 9 Make color tests of the photographs.

Step 10 Cover design. Decide on image. Get headlines. Place them in the file. See if they fit in a visually pleasing way. Make edits. This is an iterative process.

Step 11 Send to the printer.

In addition to the above process style sheets and templates are created in InDesign to keep a cohesive look, and make it easier to make layouts.

Rationale for Design Solutions

Designs are based on the users. Colors and typography vary greatly in accordance with specific target audiences. A sampling of users I have designed for are: teens, family financial planning, investors, knitters, brides, and engineers.

Marci Papineau Gottlieb
+45 2447 3457
marcidenmark@me.com