National Geographic Magazine

On the 27 of May 2022, a family member had his big day. His wedding day. Both families wanted to give something to the new wedding couple. We all knew that they were big fans of the National Geographic magazine so we thought we should make something like that. The magazine would contain photos of them together, stories from the past, beautiful sceneries, etc. It was my job as the "designer" of the family to put it all together. Every family member wanted to contribute something to the magazine.

But how do you make a National Geographic magazine consist of the branding of Natgeo and all the works of the family members?

My first objective was to research the National Geographic branding. I bought multiple magazines and went to the library to get some more. I searched online for digital versions, got the branding guidelines, etc. I look closely at every detail, layout element, imagery, etc. In a relatively short time, I got a good understanding of the magazine.

In the end, I was proud of the end result:

It's in the little details. The date format, special issue slogan, the title behind his head (which is a nice detail that other magazines have), and the contrast to show title.

Of course, I can't show you all of it. There were 80 pages of content. (yes, that took a while to make). I also don't want you to show all the personal stuff but the country's articles are magnificent.

This would be a full-page introduction to an article sent in by a family member. Most of the time I got some text in a word document with low-res images. I quickly searched online for better high-quality images that I could use.

Beautiful pictures. The magazine also had some personalized ads for the couple. Mostly about jobs they had in the past of products that they used.

On the day of their wedding, I gave them their copy. The next day I got bombarded with messages about how awesome the magazine was. Page every page was sent to me about different jokes, photos, you name it. Also, the other family members were astonished by the quality of the magazine and their work.

Because I put so much time and effort into this product it meant I could deliver the magazine for a grade in my study (HvA). I made an appointment with a certain teacher about the product and we sat together to discuss the product.

She was amazed. She thought you could lay the magazine somewhere around school and students would think it was the real deal.

She was so amazed that she gave it a 10. Yes, a 10. The highest score that is possible. No issues, nothing to improve.

Looking back at it I gave it my all. So much time was spent on the details and putting it all together. I was happy with the end result. Sadly I can't show you the whole magazine but maybe that's a good thing. It's a personalized product made for a special couple.