Who are we?

Coverline Design is a design consultancy specializing in magazine launching and redesign. We offer a broad multi-disciplinary expertise in developing a strong editorial voice, ultra-contemporary look and feel, broad readerships and efficient workflow for periodical publications.

We do understand that magazines are collaborative enterprises. Launching or redesigning a publication must emerge from a shared vision that incorporates editorial, design and business interests.

We realize that an in-house design can be a struggle, requiring not just talent and motivation but also initiative and energy. It means finding extra time within a regular production schedule to reimagine a magazine. It means finding a new visual vocabulary that is different from the one you speak daily.

Coverline Design translates those management, editorial and design concerns into a functioning structure. We recognize that even magazines with similar readerships can have very different souls. We respect and advocate the essence, the attitude and the personality of every publication.

What do we offer?

Depending on your publication needs, Coverline Design offers three major redesign services:

1. Updating – improved look without a change in content:

  • changing the look and feel of the magazine without modifying the editorial voice and character of the publication;
  • gradual updating of the particular design elements;
  • a refreshing of the title rather than an extreme makeover (change in colour palette, signage, typography, image style, logo, cover, etc.);
2. Restructuring - modifying the editorial content without replacing it with a new one:
  • making the content more inviting, more accessible and revitalized in order to recapture advertiser or readers who have drifted off;
  • reordering a format that has become unwieldy or ineffective in places;
  • introducing new ways of presenting information.
3. Repositioning – a total makeover of the editorial content and a visual style:
  • changing not just the physical form of the publication but who is reading it as well.
While updating introduces a new look and restructuring may involve new approaches to storytelling, a repositioning alters the entire publication’s DNA. The name may be the same, but the result of the redesign is a fundamentally different magazine aiming to reach out and capture a different market.

While the third and most severe stage of redesign might seem risky, for some publications it is a matter of life and death. If a magazine has covered a topic that no longer resonates with a sustainable readership, then it must expand or change its topic. If a readership is aging with the magazine, new readers must eventually be found. Turning-off old readers is a calculated decision taken to attract new enthusiastic readers of a different age or income level.

Coverline Design understands that magazines are carefully balanced ecosystems, and it can be hard to make minor adjustments without setting off a cascade of visual issues. Therefore, we always seek to establish authority and build consensus for a redesign.

When do you need a redesign?

We live in the age of tremendous change, many readers lose interest in a publication that looks as though it is standing still. In the past most magazines needed a redesign every seven years. Now, large newsstand titles seem to change every three or four years. And, if they are aimed at young audiences, two years is a norm.

The credit (or the blame) for this quickening of the redesign circle goes to the Web. The Internet has raised the overall level of visual literacy and created an expectation for freshness among readers. Magazines must run to stay in place.

Coverline Design recognizes the importance of regular, well-executed redesign and offers the expertise in both editorial management and graphic design to deliver successful design solutions when:
  • Your editorial message has changed;
  • Your audience has changed;
  • Your staff has changed;
  • Your production and distribution methods have changed;
  • Readers attitudes changed;
  • Advertiser attitudes changed;
  • Your competition has changed.
If any of the above seven applies to your publication, a redesign may be in your future. If not, a redesign may be a smart strategy for staying ahead. Leaders are proactive. They deal with a problem before it becomes one.