With more than 150,000 copies circulated around the United States and Europe, Bleu Magazine is now a premier men’s publication that has gained an international fanbase of over 325,000 readers. Leveraging distinctive, highly curated content in fashion, entertainment and culture, Bleu Magazine speaks to today’s most aspirational men’s lifestyle enthusiasts.
In its early iterations, Bleu Magazine was missing an evolved set of guidelines for the organization of its grid and graphic style. To ensure consistency and better visually communicate its high level of sophistication, Bleu Magazine asked their good friends at Squat to give the editorial design a complete facelift. That involved the development of a coherent graphic system for everything from the page numbering to icon placement, to photographic style, to line spacing and content distribution.
While the new rules governed certain mainstays, we were able to keep the magazine agile and dynamic through variable graphic elements. Each chapter in the magazine was stylized according to its topic and content. While one spread discussing education was treated with old-school, chalk-based typography, arranged on a chalkboard background, another dedicated to trashy-chic fashion trends was designed with vintage photographic filters and modern typography. Various event and culture-oriented pages were supported with chic illustrations and iconography.
The results helped Bleu Magazine achieve unprecedented success in a market saturated by bigger fashion and lifestyle publications. The magazine’s readership and web traffic skyrocketed 850%, leading it to become a point of discussion among celebrities like Terrence J of BET Awards’ 106th & Park and TV personality, Nick Cannon.
This project received the FOLIO’s 2012 Eddie and Ozzie Silver Award for Best Redesign in the consumer category. Our team had the honor of competing with strong contenders such as Harper’s Bazaar and Travel+Leisure Magazine, who won gold and bronze respectively.
Featured on Behance Editorial Design Served.
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