PPWEAR

Magazine Cover Design

Company:PPWear
Location:USA, NY
Service:Magazine cover design
5.0 100+ Reviews

Challenge

PPWear brought an extensive project to Stan Agency. The company needed both magazine cover and page designs for its new publication for the sportswear compression line. The goal was for these magazine cover and page designs to serve as both advertisements and instructions. Stan Agency accepted the challenge and began working on this custom order immediately.

Challenge Components

Niche market
Visual impact
Consumer wariness

The Universal Challenge with Magazines

Magazines are very interest orientated, so designing them requires constant consideration. People feel they can stop reading in the middle if their question is answered or they lose interest, and they may never pick it back up. Keeping the reader constantly hooked and interested helps reluctant readers get the information they need.

Industry Research

The magazine industry as a whole is fascinating, with a centuries-long history in the USA. We took a look into various publications relating to sports and exercise while looking for market trends. The research revealed several distinct design aesthetic possibilities, which the research team passed along to the magazine cover designers.

Audience Research

We also did a deep dive into the PPWear intended audience. PPWear was designed to be marketed to existing exercise and sports enthusiasts, rather than beginners. The audience tended to focus on their goals, but they had been deceived by products before. This created a skepticism that we needed to overcome in the magazine page designs.

Topic Research as a Custom Design Firm

We also looked into compression clothing as well, which yielded a plethora of results. We examined the marketing materials for PPWear’s direct competitors. Then we looked at some parallel markets to the calf compressions socks to see if the trends matched up. With all of that information, it was design time.

Bonus Challenge

The big challenge with this project is overcoming consumer wariness. Most people who are serious about exercise have tried at least one product that promised everything but did nothing. Overcoming that skepticism in the magazine page designs was paramount to successfully marketing this compression product.

Brand Symbology

PPWear uses a no-nonsense approach to its brand, as many athletes do to their training. This type of clean aesthetic lets the consumer know that the brand matches their values. It’s also a relaxed aesthetic to convey in magazines cover designs, which was incredibly helpful for this project. We had several options if we wanted to draw inspiration solely from the brand.

The Brand-Product Tie-In

Compression is a serious business for athletes, and the right compression products can help improve their athletic performance. By pairing a product that works with a no-nonsense brand identity, PPWear offers reassurance to consumers. We wanted to convey that same reassurance through the magazine page designs.

Design Inspiration

We drew our inspiration from the athletes that the product helps. That meant keeping everything simple and emphasizing the athletes themselves. We also decided as a team to go simple in terms of design, to the point of almost minimalism. These parameters helped us form a cohesive series of magazine page designs.

Element Decisions

While we knew we wanted to keep the magazines cover design simple, we also knew the inside would need some flare. That brought us to the athletes. We picked several different possibilities to highlight in the magazine page designs. Then the team went out and created several innovative visions, including both magazine page and cover designs.

Narrowing Down the Final Options

The design team produced some genuinely spectacular concepts. To begin narrowing it down, we focused on the company brand. Then we considered the eye-catching value of the magazine core designs. From there, we progressed to mixing the different magazine page concepts the team pulled together into one cohesive piece.

Result

The PPWear team loved the magazine design. The company began working immediately to obtain print copies, as well as uploading it onto its website. The print copies were both included in the packaging of its compression gear and placed on shelves for people interested in researching. The company also let us know that its sales were stable and there were fewer product returns.

The Deliverable

The Final Package:

One complete custom magazines cover design
Completely custom magazine page designs
Separate package design elements for reuse

The final design began with a black magazine cover featuring white accents. Inside, the color on the pages came from the product itself. We felt this subtle focus would really reinforce to consumers how central the product is. We enjoyed working with PPWear, and look forward to collaborating again as the company expands.