Coverline Business Plan

Coverline Brand Identity Development and Design

Coverline Design Company Concept

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.

Mood Board Exercise

I began working on the Coverline Design mood board from identifying key words relevant to the company.

Then, I searched for images representing those words and created a puzzle-like collage to show that all those elements are inter-related.

The shapes of human faces incorporated in the image symbolize the process of communication that can only be completed by Coverline Design.

Design Company Positioning

I have looked at the existing design companies serving my field of interest. I realized that there is a number of large design companies which serve the market by providing photography as well as graphic designs for brochures, catalogues, direct mail, branding and websites design.

Also, there seems to be a lively market of freelancer proving work for various magazines.

In addition, there is a few of design companies specializing in magazine design and publishing. They offer ongoing work on existing publications, rebranding/redesign of existing publications, as well as launching new magazines.

Finally, I have managed to identify a few companies providing design for self-publishing.

Links:

http://www.deep.co.uk/

http://www.v-creative.co.uk/

http://www.pentacordesign.co.uk/

http://www.nbmedia.co.za/books/index.html

http://www.origindesign.uk.com/disciplines-magazines.php

http://www.magazineproduction.com/

http://www.freelancemagazinedesign.co.uk/

http://www.bookdesigners.co.uk/index_magazines.asp?

gclid=CMby_LG3lZ4CFVtn4wodnRzzpQ

My Design Company Logo

I did work a little more on the design company logo I started few weeks ago. Having attended a few design exhibitions (such as Mariscal Drawinf Life) and talks like Paula Scher's lecture at D&AD, I realised that what inspires me most is typography. Therefore, I tried to design a logo for my design business using typography. I was looking for something simple ("less is more") and easily recognizable. This is what I came up with and how I got there.

Towards designing a logo

Out of the company names listed in previous post I selected two and started working towards designing a company logo.



Unfortunately, there seems to be an existing design company named Spread. Therefore, I will have to concentrate on an alternative name - Coverline.

Naming a Creative Business

This is my list of ideas for names for creative business:
1. Vistula Vision UnLimited - The name I used for my previous project. It incorporates the reference to the country of my origin ('Vistula' is the longest river in Poland) as well as the statement that my 'Vision' is not limited to the boundaries of any single country or discipline.
2. UnLimited - Shorter version of the previous name.
3. Fusion - It draws from the notion of fusion and blurring boundaries between journalism and design, between Polish and British influences, etc.
4. Studio DX - This abstract name does not carry any specific meaning other that the one you create in your mind for yourself. What does Studio DX mean to you?
5. Studio 44 - The number 44 carry very enigmatic meaning and has been often referred to in Polish mythology and romantic literature.
6. Design 44 - As above.
7. Punch Design - The name referring to cutting age, contemporary design.
8. Impact Design - Self-explanatory.
9. Absolute Design.
10. Total Design.
And finally...
11. Spread - The name obviously pointing towards designing magazine spreads and other forms of editorial design.
12. Coverline Design - Yet another reference to editorial design.