Harper’s Magazine
visual identity & marketing refresh

Adding some sophisticated flair (and a little bit of humor) into a historical publication’s marketing strategy

BRANDING ~ MARKETING ~ PRINT

Although Harper’s Magazine is America’s oldest general interest monthly publication, not many people still know it exists. Most of their marketing assets are only seen within its own issues and there is a lack of visual consistency throughout all their collateral, all with little presence online. I came in as their in-house designer and production manager and pitched the idea of refreshing their brand in-between issues.

  • I worked on creating a unified look throughout their social media channels and marketing collateral. This meant creating standardized templates for a seamless workflow, updating house ads with a multitude of variations, and redesigned all their newsletters. I also designed items to be sold in the Harper’s store and for marketing opportunities.

  • Because of its legacy, the magazine’s library was filled with visual treasures. Harper’s “toile” was created using illustrations from their archive and Edward Penfield’s illustrations created for the magazine in late 19th century were used in ads. The illustrations were siloed out, retouched for the digital space, and a few elements were photoshopped in whenever applicable, such as the most current issue when the CTA is to subscribe, or a pair of earbuds in a podcast advertisement.

  • Harper’s Magazine will always commission outside artists and photographers to create work for the pieces in each issue. However, when a time-sensitive piece came in, I was asked to create the artwork to accompany it.

    View this and more editorial work here