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Client: St Cross College, Oxford

Project: Crossword Magazine

St Cross College had produced their Crossword Magazine for ten years, but the design was tired and needed an overhaul. They'd seen how we'd helped other colleges transform their publications, so we set about modernising Crossword into a stylish and attractive magazine.

Like with many college magazines, Crossword had grown from a newsletter into a much larger publication. The design and structure hadn't grown with it, though. It was full of snippety style content, but the tight margins, inconsistent spacing and dated presentation made it hard to read. We needed to use all our design and production expertise to turn this into a modern magazine.

Firstly, we completely redesigned the templates from the ground up. We instantly changed the visual tone with added white space, a refined colour palette and improved typography. Secondly, we focussed on greater design consistency throughout the publication. Where it previously felt disjointed, we brought harmony and uniformity.

A redesigned masthead showcased the new fonts (the cross shape within the W gives a subtle visual nod to the name), and by concentrating on the header hierarchy, we made the content easier to read and digest. The result is a contemporary and readable magazine that allows the engaging content to shine.

We even arranged the printing, mailing and fulfilment, making the whole process as smooth and cost-effective as possible.

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