National Examiner Magazine Redesign
New National Examiner Cover
Overview
This editorial/publication class project was a somewhat humorous attempt at taking the infamous grocery store pulp magazine The National Examiner and turning its gossip-filled pages into something much more luxurious. The top story of this issue is all about revealing the true character of NCIS actor Mark Harmon. Other subjects in the magazine discuss Marilyn Monroe, Angelina Jolie, and snippets of many other actors. There is even a horoscope and leg-health infographic. The magazine overall is soaked in a rich black & white film noir aesthetic, but doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Software(s) Used
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Indesign
Clip Studio Paint
The old National Examiner cover
The old National Examiner interior
The Process
The idea behind this magazine is fairly simple, but it’s a fun one. Take a pulpy, grocery store celebrity gossip magazine and turn it into a higher class, luxury celebrity gossip magazine. A pauper into a prince, if you will. The finished magazine contains most of the same stories and copy as the original, but everything else would be spruced up and given a much better design touch. Again, that dark, sleek film noir look would saturate most of the magazine. A download of the full magazine .PDF can be found here.
The Nameplate & Cover
After many initial ideas about different methods of type treatment, a combination of two thick script typefaces were used to create the new National Examiner logo. They convey the decadence and luxury of the entire magazine. The cover illustration is a black/white film noir style digital painting of actor Mark Harmon, who is the focus of the main story. The tone and lighting of the illustration are meant to make Harmon seem mysterious, dangerous, and secretive, which is emphasized by the headline “The Mark Harmon Only I Know.” The reader is about to uncover his secrets, which is an intentional misdirection because if you read the actual story, there is nothing but praise and positivity towards Mark Harmon.
Marilyn Monroe Story & Infographic
This story was intended to look lavish and decadent, but given a bright splash of pink cutesy color. Marilyn’s iconic face is used in prevalence here.
Mark Harmon Feature Story
This story features a “crime-scene” look that calls back to NCIS, the show Harmon is most famous for. The ribbon obscures his face, but by the end, it is all ripped off as the reader understands the truth about Harmon. Since Sean Murray, his co-actor is providing the info, there is a presumed initial conflict between the two, represented by the illustrations of both of their half faces in opposing pages on the spread. It’s all a misdirection, as previously stated, because Murray ends up speaking nothing but positively of Harmon. The inclusion of the men’s hair ad after that story is placed there for a bit of a laugh. At first glance you’d think the man was another photo of Mark Harmon.
Angie’s Commandments Story
Given that the headline uses the word “commandments,” it was appropriate to use some religious imagery to style the story. Each commandment has its own block in the modular grid. The peachy color is directly pulled from the Angie-Jesus composite painting (Anjesus?).
Star Guide Horoscope
My personal favorite spread, it also uses blocks of the modular grid for each short section. The photo of the starry night just makes it gorgeous though.
Eye Spy Bits
The final story is a simple collection of celebrity news gossip, brought together as a composite story of multiple sections. Again individual blocks of the modular grid were used. The film noir aesthetic is brought back full swing to tie everything together. The footprints are particularly nice at leading the eye across the spread, like a detective following a trail.