Always Watching
A magazine concept I created to give parents a tool to understand the media their children consume, whilst combining my passions for media studies and graphic design.
The format also was easily translated into an EPUB, an interactive PDF. The following video is a screen recording of the EPUB, it includes video with sound within the pages. After, there are mock-ups as a magazine and the original flat magazine design.
This was the take I took on a table of contents. It was designed to be animated in an EPUB to allow for an interesting animation.
The concept stemmed from the character Roz in the movie Monsters, Inc. The line "I'm always watching" felt fitting in more ways than one. Children are always watching something. They are constantly engaged whether it be in television, movie, video games, social media, or even simply paying attention to the world around them. This in turn makes it hard for parents to constantly screen and filter the content their children consume. So, the concept that those running this magazine would help alleviate the burden by "watching so you don't have to" made sense. It is meant to be another set of eyes and ears as a tool to help parents. It would feature scholarly articles and reviews on content that is readily accessible for children. It also allows them to take part in the conversation. If they can understand what their children watch they can parent them easier. They can look for signs of mental health issues or even suggest material to watch together as a family if their child is struggling with something in particular like sexuality, gender, or bullying. Once again, this is just a concept I created and own no rights to any of the imagery.
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The design originally was supposed to imitate a slash through the pages, almost as if to peel back the page and get to the substance. After trying some variations, the sharp edges felt the most cohesive without taking away from the content and the message.
Another spread that was designed to be animated whilst generating interest in the shows featured.
When it came to making or breaking the grid, it felt fitting to break it for this spread. This show really revolutionized what content was deemed suitable for "children's television." Big concepts such as sexuality, gender identity and even consent were all touched on in this show. It also showed that even a "goofy" child can be taken seriously. So, rather than forcing the title to fit along side the columns, I gave it space to breathe on it's own.
The choice to leave the imagery in the center was to incorporate the show page spread. For the purpose of an EPUB, it allowed the other shows to disappear whilst the new shows articles would fade in. It also allowed the columns to act as balance, which further expressed the titular message "Use and Abuse of Power."
Hierarchy was a main factor in designing this spread. Considering I already had one sideways headline, and the image for that was on the side, it made sense to continue that motif. It also allows for the tagline and each lesson to exist without heavy competition.