Oceans and coastlines are on the front lines of climate change. For the past several decades they have acted as a climate stabilizer, absorbing the excess heat in our climate system, but not without consequences. Marine ecosystems, currents, and weather patterns are experiencing complex and profound changes that most of us will never witness first hand.
By sharing the sailor’s perspective, Surge Magazine is inspiring new thinking about how humanity might connect with environment and envision a thriving life on a changing planet. With a mission to highlight the relationship between ocean and climate, they propel meaningful conversations about resilience and invite readers into a community of caring for the ocean and its inhabitants.
Surge readers are adventurous agents of social change who have witnessed connections between culture, environment, and climate through their experiences on the ocean and its margins. They are self-reliant conservationists, ocean sailors, voyagers, researchers, cartographers, and citizen scientists. In their reading, conversation, and travel, they seek out new perspectives that go deeper than sound bites and headlines.
With this in mind, I developed a design strategy and prototype that reflects the ethos of the magazine and the desire of readers for substantive content and design:
Independent. Optimistic. Intellectual. Inspirational. Eclectic.
Typography studies, visual research, and masthead sketches.
The layout grid, folio, and typography selections give a clean, crisp look and a scientific feel. Large photographs and artwork play with perspective and inspire awe and reverence for our planet while clean graphics convey data about our oceans in an engaging and straightforward style.
The magazine is small and sturdy enough for easy travel tucked into a duffel or sea bag. It is narrow enough to read one-handed while on watch or in your bunk but also provides ample space for large photos and information graphics. A matte finish allows for reading with a headlamp without excess glare and signals that this is not your typical slick, flashy yachting magazine. It is something more thoughtful. Sturdy, high-end, recycled paper makes it durable enough for reading on deck where it might encounter splash and spray.
