10 Editorial Designers Which You Could Research

As you may already know, one of the most important factors within developing a personal project or project brief is finding inspiration, whether that is through existing brands or current artists and designers. This is because we can get inspired through specific aspects of their work and use it to influence our choices in our own work. This blog post is going to be focusing on artists who experiment primarily with editorial design, which is described as "a branch of graphic design specialised in publications, such as books, magazines, articles, newspapers, catalogues, leaflets, brochures, covers, and so on. It's all about the internal and external aesthetics of these texts or contents." Editorial design is a great medium to experiment with because it is common for many professional briefs to involve techniques which are used within this medium, such as leaflets and books. With editorial design, it is important to focus on important techniques such as typography, type placement, imagery placement, text size, text alignment.

I will give you a brief overview of who these artists are, as well as a quick summary of the visual aspects within their work. If you would like more help into HOW to analyse an artist, look back at my previous blog post digesting other artists work, such as Troy Browne.

1) Burrow

Burrow is a Graphic Design studio based in Berlin, Germany & Zurich, Switzerland, which focuses on print, identities and digital work.

The simplicity behind Burrow's work is what inspires me most. The simplicity helps draw the reader in, making reader anticipate a calming, easy yet engaging read. The technique of relating content to context works significantly well too, which is shown in both "Light Interdiction" and "The Story of Water".

"The Story of Water" is my favourite design of Burrows because of the colour combination of black and dark blue. This is a brave combination due to how similar they are in shades, making it a much more subtle design. The black and blue work together well. I view the implementation of black a way as representing the eerie unknown of the deep, blue sea.

Website: https://im-burrow.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imburrow/

2) Jordi Ng

Jordi Ng is a Brooklyn-based graphic designer, art director and illustrator. Jordi Ng works in graphic design and art direction with many well-known clients across the fields of publishing, arts and culture, technology, and music. Jordi Ng often works with books, publications, identities and various printed matter.

My personal favourite technique which Jordi Ng perfects is her colour combinations, which radiate bravery and uniqueness. They're always bright and vibrant colour combinations, and often colours artists may veer away from experimenting with. The yellow, pink and orange within the first design is my personal favourite. Bright, vibrant colours radiating positive vibes only. The gradient within the second two design works significantly well, particularly within the green and orange colours, as I feel like this is a rare colour combination to see. Having one entire page a simple gradient is a great way to split the book up and make the book more artistic.

Website: https://awpoop.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whoremone/

3) Maria Petrova

Maria Petrova is a graphic designer based in Saint Petersburg, Russia, who mainly specialises in the creation of brand development, visual identity design and corporate communication. In addition, Petrova enjoys participating in "experimental projects and collaborations, especially which are related to art: design of exhibition spaces, layouts of posters, catalogs and advertising materials for exhibitions."

The modern and simplistic approach of Petrova's work is what inspires me most, particularly with the design directly above. Each page layout is very simplistic, showing a large image of an abstract design, forcing it to be the main focus point for the viewer. This is accompanied by tiny, neatly placed writing just below the design. This small writing contrasts against the large size of the image above very well.

Website: https://mariapetrova.studio

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mari__petrova/

4) Paul Voggenreiter

Paul Voggenreiter is a graphic designer from Germany, who is currently working and living around Europe. Voggenreiter focuses on digital and printed media such as books and publications, visual identities, websites, moving images and motion design.

The use of space within Voggenreiter's work also inspires me significantly. Most designers aim to fill the page full of appropriate amount of content to ensure they keep their viewer engaged for as long as possible, however Voggenreiter uses the unique approach of embracing empty space within his design.

Website: https://paulvoggenreiter.eu

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulvoggenreiter/

5) Atelier Choque Le Goff

The Atelier Choque Le Goff, created by Donald Choque & Yoann Le Goff, is working across fields of art direction, graphic design and type design, located between Paris and Nantes. The Atlier's process is mainly focused in crossing knowledges, practices and techniques with a particular attention on typography.

The technique of experimenting with simplistic shapes allows the atelier's work adds a fun, playful atmosphere to their design. This playful nature is further exaggerated by the bright, contrasting colour palette often used within his designs, such as yellow, light blue and black. Furthermore, the presentation of his final product is also something which inspires me significantly. This is shown in the bottom image, where someone is relaxing back on a comfy, relaxing chair, kicking their feet up and enjoying the funky illustrations. This is a great way of promoting their cool projects.

Website: https://www.choquelegoff.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/choquelegoff/

6) Balmer Hählen

Balmer Hählen is a design studio, founded by Priscilla Balmer and Yvo Hählen, which consists of a team of four people. Their exploration within graphic design allows the studio to develop a range of different mediums such as print, digital and textile. Balmer Hählen's work is "regularly exhibited in Switzerland and abroad, notably in several international poster competitions in China, Ukraine, Scotland and Japan, where the studio received the Tokyo Type Directors Club Annual Awards in 2018".

The unique type placement of alternating text alignment to create paragraphs inspires me significantly. It helps break up the text and make it feel like an easier read. Text placement is it's own art within editorial design and is something I advise you focus on heavily within your work to make your editorial design stand out against competitors.

Website: https://www.balmerhahlen.ch

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/balmerhahlen/

7) Sara Cristina Moser

Studio Sara Cristina Moser is a multidisciplinary studio for visual communication based in Berlin. The studios focus is on exploring experimental ways of visual language and the generation of new aesthetics, always in search of an overarching design and conceptual systematics. The studio is working in a variety of cultural, institutional, art and economical fields, as well as on self initiated projects

Studio Sara Cristina Moser is a multidisciplinary studio for visual communication, based in Berlin. This studio's focus is on "exploring experimental ways of visual language and generation of new aesthetics, always in search of an overarching design and conceptual systematics."

The colour combination of pink and green in the third design is a technique which instantly inspired me. Green and pink are complementary colours, meaning they are opposite each other on the colour wheel, allowing them to have great contrast against each other. Furthermore, the simplistic, yet funky shapes incorporated within this design makes the design aesthetically pleasing and artistic.

Website: https://saracristinamoser.de

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studiosaracristinamoser/

8) Daniel & Andrew

Daniel & Andrew is a design and communication studio founded by Daniel Mihalcea and Andrei Turenici, based in Bucharest, Romania. This studio specialises in visual identities, editorial projects and exhibitions in cultural and commercial sectors.

The use of space within Daniel & Andrew's work inspires me significantly. Unlike Paul Voggenreiter, Daniel & Andrew clearly aim to fill the design with lots of content, to make the design feel more complete and engaging. This is a risky approach, because too much design can appear quite over whelming and cluttered, if done incorrectly. However, Daniel & Andrew seem to have found the perfect balance, which is difficult to achieve and inspiring. Their approach with typography is also inspiring. With the top images, the text often hides slightly behind the image within the foreground, which is a unique technique as we often assume typography will always be in the foreground. Using unexpected techniques is a great approach within editorial design, and design in general, when trying to make your work unique, particularly against competitors.

Website: https://danielandandrew.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielandandrew/

9) Local Design Circle

Local Design Circle, which was founded in 2018, to offer a "unified voice for Romanian designers". This design association aims to "promote the importance of graphic design in everyday life, facilitate access to education, and contribute to a healthier visual environment."

The technique of using a simplistic colour palette helps ensure all of the readers attention is towards the foreground of the design, whether that is a simplistic, silhouette illustration of a kettle or text. The design with the kettle is what mainly intrigued me to look further into the work of Local Design Circle's studio. The technique of overlaying an image over text, making the paragraph illegible as a collective is a very unique approach. I have noticed a pattern within my research. The successful, inspiring editorial designers which I am coming across within this research often experiment with unique techniques which are unexpected, allowing themselves to stand out against other editorial designers. What other unique, unexpected techniques could I/you experiment with in my/your own work?

Website: https://localdesigncircle.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/offender.studio/

10) Everyday Practice

Everyday Practice is a graphic design studio, founded by Kwon Joonho, Kim Kyung-chul, and Kim Eojin. Everyday Practice a small community of designers who think about the role of design in the current reality of the world we live in. Though Everyday Practice's work is based on graphic design, they do not restrict themselves to two-dimensional design.

"We constantly experiment with various design methods and try to apply the lessons to future works."

The unique, vibrant colour combination of red and green works significantly well. Red and green are complementary colours, meaning they are opposite each other on the colour wheel, allowing them to have great contrast against each other. Studio Sara Cristina Moser is another studio which also experiments with complementary colours, which I was also inspired by. Noticing this pattern further inspires me to experiment with in more within my own work.

Website: http://everyday-practice.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hello_ep/