Common Ground is a quarterly about cities — written by planners, residents and the occasional poet. Over three years and twelve issues we designed a magazine that changes every time while staying unmistakably itself.
The brief
The foundation wanted a print magazine that could sit on a coffee table and in a council chamber. Every issue has a different guest editor and theme, from housing to public toilets.
The design needed a strong identity, room for wildly different content, and a production process a two-person editorial team could manage.
Approach
We built a grid of twelve columns and three typefaces, then gave each issue one variable: a single color drawn from the theme. Covers are typographic, set from a sentence in the lead essay.
Craft
Body text is set in a sturdy serif at a generous size for long reading. Data stories use a small set of chart types we designed once and reuse in every issue, so numbers are always easy to compare.
Readers collect it. Councillors quote it. Our editors actually enjoy making it.
Amara Okafor, Editor-in-chief
Outcome
Circulation grew from 2,000 to 9,500 copies, and the magazine’s templates now power the foundation’s reports and its website.
- Twelve issues, 1,100 pages, one system
- Circulation up from 2,000 to 9,500 copies
- Twice shortlisted for editorial design awards