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Magazine Design Case Study
March 2026 - Present

Introduction
This is a case study conducted in my Design for Complexity course. Introduced to the class by my professor, Andrea Hardin, and guest speaker and current National Board President of AIGA, Cesar Rivera, we were tasked to write and design a magazine article about a chosen medical topic. I decided to focus on all forms of Diabetes as a lot of misconceptions begin at a surface level. I believed that if I could educate an audience on the basics of this chronic illness, then a lot of those misunderstandings would be cleared up.

Why and Who
I wrote this article because the misconceptions of diabetes are ones I know well. As someone who was diagnosed when I was twenty years old, it was something I never thought about past a certain extent. I never realized that even then, I knew more about diabetes than those around me. My target audience was anyone who wanted to learn more without judgment and with encouragement. This meant it could be for someone who is newly diagnosed or someone who knows a diabetic. I wanted anyone who decided to read this article to not feel alone or intimidated. A new diagnosis shouldn’t feel like the end because there will be plenty of people learning with you.

Research
I first began my research looking specifically into Type 1 Diabetes since that is my diagnosis. However, as I began reading more, I realized how important it is to define each type. This was confirmed by the discovery of the lack of recognition for Gestational Diabetes and how much it impacts a pregnancy. I decided then that it was more important for me to create a unifying article for these people to reaffirm that no one is alone in a permanent or temporary diagnosis. I read several articles describing each of the four forms of diabetes from diabetes.org and the CDC site. To complete my research, I read the National Diabetes Statistics Report from the CDC as well. It provided more statistics than I needed, but gave me a larger perspective on what I was writing about. In the end, I used only a few impactful statistics so that I wouldn’t scare the reader, but rather encourage them.

Studying an Existing Article
One step I would’ve overlooked without guidance was studying a published magazine. I knew the general basics of magazine design, but by dissecting multiple publications, I was able to better build the basis for my own design. I already understood the gutters between columns and the extra margins for printing errors, but I got more inspired by the general design of articles. I did, however, need to be reminded of how the articles flow across pages and how precisely the images are placed. By creating quick sketches and a low-fidelity template, I gathered more information about what would work for my desired outcome and what wouldn’t. The low-fidelity frames are different than the final product, but that shows the growth and development this article had. Instead of copying the layout from my sketches exactly, I had made my own with the knowledge gained.

Branding

Another aspect that I noticed was the cohesiveness and legibility of each article, regardless of the topic. The successful articles I liked used sans-serif typefaces for both headers and body text. Archivo is used for the title and headers in semi-bold for hierarchy, while Ranade paired well with Archivo and was easy to read even at a small size. The color palette, on the other hand, expresses my goal of tenderness and encouragement. I decided to use calm blues to resemble the color of diabetes awareness, and pink to be a warming accent color. To make it less harsh, I chose to make the article with off-white and black. For the imagery shown, I wanted to have a rounded cartoon style to show the equipment used by diabetics, as well as an ambiguous character to stand in for diabetics.

The Process

When designing the main article, I kept in mind the central ideas of kindness and companionship as well as education. I made the title simple yet interesting to state my topic clearly, and began inserting my text using the template. I decided to switch to an imperfect, hand-drawn style for the imagery because I thought it was more approachable and better reflected the instability some readers might feel. For the first spread, I took inspiration from the full spread images in the published magazines. In this spread, I depicted a hand with a blood drop and someone dosing insulin. These are two of the most recognizable, basic tasks diabetics have to do in order to maintain their blood sugar well, so I wanted to give them a spotlight.

Outcome
One of the final steps I had was a peer review. I received a couple of typical critiques, such as an image being too large or slightly out of place. I also received some critiques about text alignment from my peers. I went back and fixed the issues and realized that my final outcome was even more successful. The opening spread caught everyone’s attention and got them to turn the page. My peers commented on the layout and hierarchy, which made my article flow easily. Overall, I received good critiques and implemented them to make my work even better.

Insight
By looking back through this case study and remembering the entire process, I realize how much this project has benefited me. Two of the biggest things I will remember moving forward are not to overlook simple beginning steps, such as looking at successful designs. The second takeaway is to double-check the small details that make a huge difference. In editorial design, alignment is very important. I am grateful that I have learned from this project, and I will remember to use these takeaways more as I head into the design world.

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Ellie Benson

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