Problem

The economics team was already sending out a daily economic update newsletter to their subscribers called "The Owl" but needed a longer edition (such as an online magazine) that would go out quarterly to build a stronger connection with their audience.

Who

The audience were those who were interested in what was going on with Alberta economically. They were all ages with all different levels of expertise. Some examples include: ATB staff, ATB customers, Alberta’s thought leaders, subject matter experts and stakeholders, and people outside Alberta who were interested in our province.

My role

This team had a knack for making economics more interesting than it sounds. I was the designer and my responsibility was to reflect that through the design of the digital magazine.

The process

Looking through other online magazines I noted layouts and designs for inspiration. I laid out the content given by the client and styled it according to our brand style guide.

The magazine also needed branding so I created a logo which we also translated to "The Owl " email newsletter.

Solution

The most important things were:

• to make the publication easy to read,
• easy to digest, and
• to add some flair to help it stand out against stereotypically boring reports.

Future issues

The base layout and styling was successful in being applied to future issues of Perch by other designers and both the client and the creative director was happy with the outcome.