In light of this emphasis, we were encouraged to spend the bulk of our energy putting together the content. Time leftover could then be spent it on presentation. If content was the meat and potatoes, style was the seasoning added last minute.

The exception to this rule was the approach taught by my art instructors. Art education seemed to have a more complex understanding of the relationship between style and content. In our classes we learned not only how style complements content, but how the two inform each other.

In university, the division between style and content became even more blurry –messy even. The idea that media is itself a message was a seed that quickly took root in my mind.

Like media and message, style and content are two pieces of a whole. However, these two pieces are difficult to separate and analyze separately.

This became abundantly clear as our Creative Director Sunil Angrish and I discussed redesigning Mayday. Rather than jazz up our design, we chose instead to create a style that clearly pointed toward the content. Instead of adding a fancier exterior we chose to strip the design down to its essence and build up from there.

The result was a cleaner aesthetic. In our minds this helps minimize barriers our readers might encounter. The cleaner the design, the easier it is to read.

Even the seemingly small barrier of an extra fold was examined; we decided the a horizontal fold added a needless hurdle to our readers.

By clearing the path and eliminating barriers, we hope we’ve made your journey through these pages that much more enjoyable.

Seth Veenstra
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it