Callum stringer
Editorial
The below content is a highlight of editorial pieces I have created or collaborated on. I have worked on a range of large scale editorial pieces throughout my career and thoroughly enjoy expressive editorial design.
Editorial design
Understanding the importance of editorial design
Editorial design holds a special place in my heart. In the age of social media superiority and the digital renaissance, the art form of book design and old school magazine editorial layouts seem a thing of the past. Although I am fully aware of the benefits to digital products and the ease to market and supply them, I still thoroughly enjoy working within the editorial space. Highlighting unique compositions, displaying beautiful typography, utilising negative space and creating beautiful juxtapositions.
Background
Every designer can design a standard brochure or booklet, but very few actually have a passion for the craft of book design and creating unique editorial looks. I developed my interest while at university. For each project I'd complete I would have to create a 'process book' documenting the journey and process of the project. At first I viewed this as a chore, the least creative part of the project that I'd leave right until the end. However, as I became more adept to the workings of layout design and in turn
Indesign, I quickly found the process book to be my favourite part of projects.
I had the opportunity to hone my craft intermittently throughout my freelance ventures and at points while employed at Charles Hurst, it wasn't until I joined leading law firm A&O Shearman, that I was presented the opportunities to create bespoke booklets and print projects that I had full creative freedom over. Utilising the brand that was created by Landor & Finch and then refined by the internal brand team,
I was able to create stunning print products that were printed in the 1000's in my time at the firm.
I was able to incorporate my love for layout design into small scale projects such as event flyers and banners all the way upto multi-channel large scale campaigns.The proudest achievement in my time
at A&O Shearman was working on the Alumni Yearbook, in which i created the concepts and collateral for a large scale project, eventually leading to the creation of a 60 page plus booklet which had
4,700 copies printed and can still be found in every A&O Shearman throughout the world, it is used
as an example for internal training within the company and has became a champion piece of design within the firm, even being used at the template for later years instalments of the campaign.
Social Impact comittee
Booklet
I was tasked with creating a 40 page booklet to highlight some of the great work that this Social Committee work on. Ranging from fundraising, sponsorships amongst other forms of social impact work. The idea was for the document to utilise negative space and allow for imagery to prominently carry individual topics to help elevate the emotional content. In previous versions copy was jam-packed into pages, I wanted to showcase the use of negative space to create positive gestalt within the book.
It was important for the imagery to poignant enough to highlight the message, but also to not be too large. This is so that there is adequate enough space for the copy to stand strong and be easily legible. This helps with the visual hierarchy of the page design, allowing the image's importance to shine, whilst also allowing the message to be perceived without issue.
A highlight of some of the individual spreads throughout the document.
Re-Start program
Brochure
To help promote the Restart program for over 50's the programs organisers wanted to highlight through posters and a small brochure that people over the age of 50 should be more positive about what is out there. I initially created headlines with an endearing and whimsical tone to try and break down the barrier of returning to work. This worked well around the captivating portraits. Taglines such as: 'Life doesn't end at 50' and 'Keeping it thrifty when over fifty'.
_5.jpg)
I first created a range of posters for the programs organisers to choose between, supplying them with 3 different hero images and different styles of editorial layout. Some designs focusing on the tagline and more warped text, and others highlighting the programs incentive, each design had a unique idea.
-
Poster 1: Intended to be informative, paired with cheerful imagery to take off the seriousness of the amount of copy, the individual is jolly and happy, I specifically aimed for someone noticeably older than 50, this was to try and instil that feeling of 'if he can do it, so can I'.
-
Poster 2: Striking portrait of a younger individual, intended to showcase the youth you can feel by getting back to the workplace. The text is warped to curve around his head, from one perspective it looks like the message is coming out of his, like his thoughts are transpiring, from another perspective the shape of the text resembles a speakerphone, as if he's shouting the message.
-
Poster 3: A fun and joyous portrait to show how happy the individual is in using the ReStart program, it features less text than poster 1, but more than poster 2. It adds a symbolic 'Embrace your age' message. Meant to showcase to the reader there is no shame, fight the stigma surrounding age and work.
Brochure layout
I created a small brochure to accompany the chosen front cover and implemented a strong imagery theme. All imagery correlates to people 'taking the jump' which is the main objective behind this project. For people to see that positive things await, and to take the jump, I made sure to keep the imagery styles different, yet cohesive with the 'leap/jump' format.
Alumni Yearbook
Large book
The alumni yearbook is one of the largest projects the firm will undertake in it's yearly calendar. I was tasking with initial concepts and once approved was assigned to take the book from inception to print.
The yearbook is a celebration of connection, achievement, and community, bringing together stories and milestones from across the alumni network. This edition held special significance as it was the first alumni yearbook released following the merger, marking a new chapter in the two firms shared history.
A few months prior to starting work on the main book, I had worked closely with the Alumni team, devising strategy and theme. The idea was to have a theme that represented the newly formed merger between the two firms, the concept/ theme that was chosen was 'embracing change' an acknowledgement of the journey travelled thus far, but also an exciting look for what is to come. The imagery theme was to be animals/creatures that go through change.
A large part of the project was speeches from individuals within the senior leadership team. Although presenting different answers to several questions and providing different length of answers, it was important that all individuals appeared to contribute similarly to each topic. This meant altering layouts to ensure that no individual appeared to be contributing more than another. The Q&A was a highly sought after topic of the booklet and required careful consideration throughout to ensure the transparency and cohesion from the senior leadership team was displayed adequately.
Alumni stories
An integral part of this project was showcasing alumni from the company who have since moved elsewhere, and highlighting the incredible work they've since achieved. The book has two purposes to highlight the great work the
firm has done to try and entice people to join the alumni project, and secondly showcasing what current alumni have achieved since leaving to praise their post firm work.
Outcome
The outcome from this project was the largest printed document in A&O Shearman's history. It produced 4,700 printed copies, had tens of thousands of views online and is seen as a staple of the firms brand now. The document is used within training programmes across the firms internal training and copies of it can still be found in every single one of the 49 offices worldwide.