Developing a new cover concept for the Auto Bild magazine
This was my last week after a 3 months consulting at Auto Bild Magazine. In the last time I’ve been working on a new concept for the covers of Europe’s largest car magazine. Covers have a power (and duty) of sale. And content is the crucial factor in that. But I believe faithfully, that visual storytelling can boost this selling function by generating emotion.
Here is the new concept developed in the 8 covers I designed in the last 2 months (and bellow it, a look on how they were before):
Bellow, a 20 seconds “backstage” video of the last cover I designed. Wish lot of inspiration and successes to the team for the next ones!
It’s a brand new life for Auto Bild
3 years ago I had the honor to redesign Auto Bild Magazine (europes’s largest automobile magazine), being the biggest change that the publication ever had in terms of design and content. The redesign was selected amongst the top3 in Germany last 2014 and was implemented in several other countries where the magazine is published.
Today, 3 years later, I came back to the Auto Bild newsroom, to rethink some aspects of the project, and to identify important points of the original concept that got lost over time.
Among the changes, we made some adjustments in the typography, fully refreshed the color palette, developed new elements and redesigned some other few. We also brought a new approach to the magazine creating some new sections.
In the first week of the release of the “changes package”, I put my hands in the magazine and designed pages for this first issue. In the end of the week, I was surprised breaking my own record of the number of pages designed in a week for a magazine! : )
Below the result of all this:
Redesigning a magazine in 36 countries
Less than 2 years ago I had the honor to redesign Auto Bild magazine in Germany. In the last months, the graphic project that I developed began to be applied in the other countries where the magazine has own versions. After Germany, the graphic project started to be implemented in the magazines from Spain, Bulgaria, Poland, Turkey, Serbia, Czech Republic (photo above) and some other countries.
AUTO BILD is the largest car magazine in the world, present in 36 countries, selling more than more than 7 million copies each month, celebrating this year its 30th anniversary.
Read more:
> In the TOP 3 of the best redesigns in Germany
> The “before x after” of the redesign.
Bellow some pages of the project in:
Auto Bild Germany
Click here to see the project details and pages of Auto Bild in Germany
Auto Bild Spain
Auto Bild Poland
Auto Bild Bulgaria
Auto Bild Turkey
Auto Bild Czech Republic
60th Anniversary of Bild am Sonntag
Bild am Sonntag is the biggest Sunday newspaper in Europe, and this week celebrates its 60th Anniversary.
For this date, we had last Sunday a special issue with the must memorable covers from the last 60 years. While I was designing the cover for this extra section, I recorded the process of doing it. This “making of” shows the main idea of the cover: an overview on different facts that happened in the last 60 years and were on the pages of the newspaper.
10 hours of work, that are now summarized in the 2 minutes video bellow:
Also for the anniversary, I designed a commemorative Logo, used in the newspaper and applied in all campaigns.
As a concept for the Logo, my idea was to show what we must wish from this world: happiness.
In the TOP 3 of the best redesigns in Germany
Last year I had the honor to redesign the biggest car Magazine in Europe, Auto Bild.
It was the biggest change that the magazine ever had. Typography, tables, graphics, photo language, grid, everything was rethought to make the magazine more attractive and easier to the reader.
Some weeks ago, Horizont (a specialised media magazine), evaluated the best redesigns done in Germany. Auto Bild is in the TOP 3 (with a note of 2,36 – 3 is the best) in front of traditional magazines such as Stern and Focus. I am really proud of this result, and of the amazing job done together with the Auto Bild team.
For the redesign I developed 4 “project books”: StyleBook (where is all the project: with templates and libraries; despite of the style standards of typography, color and elements), Architecture Book (where all the structure of the magazine is defined: grid, distances, lines etc) and a HandBook (that explains how content and design should work together).Bellow are some pages of the “number zero” and some very few pages of the Style Book.
Check here the “before x after” of the redesign.
Some pages of Auto Bild redesigned
Some few pages of the Style Book
The new Hamburg Magazine
It’s here. Brand new. The latest project I have been working on: the new Hamburg Magazine (published as an extra product together with Bild am Sonntag newspaper).
The project has a mix of surprising elements and fix sections. Using the formula that I always believe as being the right balance for the use of templates: at least 25% of surprising through the navigation.
I decided to give functions to colours. Each page get a vertical bar with a specific colour, making the navigation easier since the very first moment the reader flip the pages.
The intention of an 8 columns based grid, facilitates the introduction of secondary readings and other elements to lure scanners to the text.
After 3 weeks the first results and numbers are exciting. For me, this is, indeed, a celebration for print.
Männer Magazin, a new visual approach for a popular publication
We are always smiling when a new print product does well.
Männer Magazin, a magazine in which man can have fun. This was my last project, launched last month, together with the team from Bild am Sonntag. The publication has an soft approach to each topic, and this same language I wanted to develop for the visual identity: finding not only a rhythm of reading but developing a formula that is flexible enough to ensure an attractive style of telling stories.
Here some of the pages of Männer Magazin:
A transformation in the biggest car magazine in Europe
Last mounth I had the honor to work on the redesign of Auto Bild, that embraces a new philosophy to continue to be dynamic and indispensable in a multi-platform world.Every time I enter in a newsroom to redesign a magazine or a newspaper, what I do first is: nothing, just listen.
Listening from the Chief Editor, which view he has about his actual magazine (and not what he wants to change) and making the right questions about his publication, brings him to think about details that he maybe never thought before. Ask the right “whys” to get the valuable “becauses” is the key for the entire project during the months after this first step.
It is incredible that every decision, plan, redesign, rethink in the future, bring us back to that first step.
Auto Bild is one of the biggest car magazines in the world. It was a great and “crazy” adventure to spend some months in this newsroom. Great, because of meeting a very smart Chief Editor (Bernd Wieland), who deeply knows his readers and the real essence of the magazine. Crazy, cause the time for the relaunch was too short and I didn’t want to risk the quality of this first step.
With the team of Auto Bild we rethought the entire magazine; rethinking sections, elements and the way of telling stories, emphasizing elegance, directness and good navigation
We wanted the reader to decide about his priorities on the magazine with the “what you must know, read and do”. Hierarchy gives way to a enjoyable and more intuitive reader decision for every story.Bellow, I compare the redesigned magazine with the old one (I normally do the number zero taking the content of a real issue) and some highlights from the Style Book, Library, Architecture and Text Newsroom Manual developed for the new project.
Bellow: grid, color pallet and typography. Few highlights from the more than 100 pages given to the newsroom as a project book (Style book, Architecture, Templates, Library and Manual).
In a traditional newspaper
Exactly 2 years ago I was in Brasilia (capital of Brazil) redesigning the first page of one of the must traditional newspapers in South America.
Correio is a newspaper with a rich history, founded in 1960. Known by its visual appealing (awarded as “World Best Designed Newspaper” by the SND), I had the honor to work there as Art Director, and to have the possibility to develop this project.
The Covers of Correio are famous by its creativity, often with a approach more like a magazine would do to a topic.
For this project, simplicity was the key I mainly used. Create a sense of hierarchy, was essencial to allow the possibility to such strong approach that from times to times popup in Correio first page.
Here are some pages done as sample pages for the project and as a base for the development of a Style Book. (in the first image the comparison “before / after”, working only with the new elements. Bellow, the use of the new elements applied to the new project with the different approach to the topics).
- New project (sample pages)
Short after the launch of the new project, I was very proud to be awarded by the SND (USA) and by the ESSO award (most important journalism award in South America):
- Award of Excellence, News Design/Page, A-Section (Correio Braziliense)
- Esso award
I am not in Correio anymore, but the talented team of that paper continuos with the same appealing and strong approach in its Cover, that from times to times run around the world.
Rethinking Europe’s biggest sport magazine
I am honored to had the oportunity to redesign and rethink the biggest european sport Magazine: Sport Bild, “Europas Nummer Eins!” (like they, proudly, say).
During the last months, together with the Editor in Chief Matthias Bruegelmann, we took a look at the magazine from cover to last page and analyzed sections, storytelling processes and how the power of sport content could be made more atractive, easier to find and more enjoyable to read. Despite of a completely redesign, the structure of the magazine was rethought and it got also new sections.
In a time where readers are already full of informations and dont offer you so much time, the power of visual storytelling is a tool that gives to stories a more interesting and understandable approach (sometimes even a 3rd look to a story, that was still not explored).
Here, some pages of the new Sport Bild.
