Quarterly
Editorial Design
Duration:
6 Weeks
Industry:
Media
A redesign for a business magazine that wanted its print and digital editions to feel like one product.
Quarterly publishes long-form business stories in print and online. The two editions had drifted apart over the years. We built one shared design language: a confident headline serif, a clear text face, a modular grid and an image style that works on paper and on screens.
Before designing anything, we spent time with the Quarterly team to understand how they talk about their work, who they are trying to reach and what makes them different in media. We mapped their audiences, collected examples of what they liked and disliked, and agreed on a small set of principles that every decision would be measured against.
The final work was shaped through several rounds of sketches, prototypes and real-world tests. We checked every element in the places people would actually see it, refined the details that mattered most and removed anything that did not earn its place. The result is a system that feels considered and personal, and that the Quarterly team can confidently grow on their own.
The print team worked in InDesign while the web team used a CMS with limited layout options. The system had to be flexible enough for both without needing a designer on every story.
Like many teams in media, Quarterly had grown quickly and their materials had drifted apart over time. Different people had made different choices, and the result was a brand that felt inconsistent depending on where you met it. Fixing that without slowing the team down was a key part of the brief.
There were also practical limits. The budget and timeline were tight, and the team needed something they could maintain themselves after launch. Every idea had to be ambitious enough to make a real difference, yet simple enough to survive daily use by people who are not designers.
We created matching templates for print spreads and web articles, plus a set of reusable story modules. Readers now recognise Quarterly instantly, whether they pick up the magazine or open a link on their phone.
We documented everything in a clear, practical guide and built ready-to-use templates for the most common needs. Instead of a heavy rulebook, the guide focuses on a few core principles, real examples and simple do and don’t comparisons so anyone on the team can make good decisions quickly.
After launch we stayed involved for a few weeks to support the rollout, answer questions and fine-tune details based on feedback. Quarterly now has a foundation that feels like a true reflection of who they are, and the team reports that creating new materials is faster and far more consistent than before.