the riff magazine
overview
The world of comedy is rich and expansive. Lovers of comedy will get a curated view of that world through the Riff, whether it is celebrating stand-up, improv, and beyond.
Challenge
There are many humor magazines available but none that cover comedians and all things comedy.
tools used
Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator
time period
5 months
The Final magazine
The process
It took a lot of research, prep, and experimentation to find the tone and design of my magazine. Here are some elements that helped me start my journey of developing The Riff such as User Personas (the type of audience members you’re designing for) and moodboards.
User Persona 1
User Persona 2
User Persona 3
Potential fonts and color palette
The range between mild, medium, and spicy design
Moodboard
What type of ads would live in this type of magazine? I sourced ads from Squarespace, the music and alcohol industry, among others. I believed they would be appropriate for my audience.
The logo and tagline
I chose the name The Riff because I wanted something simple related to what comics do on stage. Riffing is experimental and sometimes kills, and other times bombs horribly. But it takes bravery nonetheless to become a comedian and explore what makes people laugh.
The tagline “Finding the truth in every joke” references the idiom “there is truth in every joke.” Sometimes comedians will talk about traumatizing events from their lives on stage as a way to find levity with the issue and heal. It can also be healing for audience members to hear about something difficult they have lived through as well. Another reason I picked this tagline is that this magazine takes comedy seriously, and the interviews contained within may not all be rainbows and butterflies. We want to explore what the lives of comedians are like and dig deep into who they are. We celebrate comedy, warts and all!
Initial logo and tagline sketches
Final logo and tagline
We explored different ways to set up a layout for our magazine. Drop caps, pull quotes, a graphic elements all contribute to the look and feel of a magazine. Here are some of the early iterations I had for designing my magazine.
These are my initial opening spreads. It was lacking something cool and edgy to bring it together in terms of graphic elements.
Early iteration of my Sam Tallent cover spread
Early iteration of my Aparna Nancherla cover spread
I didn’t feel like I found the tone of the magazine until I found this graphic pack. It was a little edgy (like comedy can be), fun, exploratory, and left me with a lot of options to play with layout.
A Graphic elements pack used for the magazine called Y2K
A Graphic elements pack used for the magazine called Y2K
A Graphic elements pack used for the magazine called Y2K
A Graphic elements pack used for the magazine called Y2K
A Graphic elements pack used for the magazine called Y2K
A Graphic elements pack used for the magazine called Y2K
solution
The Riff is a comedy magazine that takes the subject matter seriously and delves into all things comedy. Each publication explores a specific aspect of the comedy world in detail while the colors, graphics elements, and layout respond to each featured comedian. This enables comedy lovers and those who want to dip their toes in with a publication to serve that purpose.
Our staff are all comedians, and yes, some of them are dead, but in their defense they are legends.