Magazine Project: Zachary Cullen

Story and Art Direction:
I wanted to do a story on LeBron James because there plenty of high resolution photos of him. Mostly, I didn’t want to do a celebrity because I can’t stand them. The article I chose was not only about basketball but about LeBron as a global brand. I liked it because the author used a lot of imagery and fantastical descriptions that I thought would be good material for art direction.
I wrote the headline “In the King’s Court” because one of LeBron’s nickname is “King James.” The word court is a double entendre meaning court as in his ruling domain, the place he rules from, and the basketball court. The deck head leads up to this with a sentence “Then again, anything can happen... In the King’s court.” Also, I knew this was perfect when I found the image of LeBron actually dressed up as a king with Lions around him. In the first spread, the Deck head and Headline lead downward and into the page, mirroring the shape of the throne LeBron is sitting on. Also, the basketball court lines in the background sweep downward like the curtains in the opposite photo, creating symmetry that pulls the reader into the magazine no matter where the are looking.
In the second spread, I chose an image of LeBron and his agent Maverick Carter because the article spends a lot of time talking about their friendship and business partnership. I chose that particular picture because the warm colored wood and jersey match the color palette from the first image.
My side bar is about products LeBron endorses. I think it adds useful and humorous information to the article (for instance, why does LeBron endorse lawn mowers?). The pictures of the products I chose are also following the color pattern of red, yellow, and black.
For my cover I created “Baller Magazine” which is intended to be a basketball magazine, but also a young urban man’s interest magazine too, that’s why I included deck heads about video games, sneakers, etc. A “Baller” is someone who plays basketball, but it is also slang for a stylish urban guy who has money.
Typefaces:
Bauhaus: Used in demi on the cover and in regular on the folios. I chose it because it has a vintage appeal, which does not go out of style in basketball.
Helvetica: Used in bold on the cover to work with the title, and in the sidebar title to contrast with the Caxton, and used in regular in the caption to contrast body text.
Caxton Bold: I chose this for the headline because it looks kind of medieval because of the big horn like squarish serifs. I also used it on the Drop cap and in the side bar for continuity and contrast.
Berkeley Oldstyle: I used this for the deckhead because it is readable and contrasts slightly from the headline. It’s one of the 10 readable fonts.
Janson Text: I used this for the body paragraphs because it’s one of the 10 readable fonts and I like the chiseled look. It’s very neat when you use justify.