September Industry

What better way to end the first Friday of 2011, than with an exclusive special feature on the redesign of the new Icon? ;)

Ever since I discovered that a certain Ken Leung (Modern Publicity) was behind the art directors seat and after Samantha from Icon got in touch about the relaunch, I knew a few images and a bit text wouldn’t suffice. So I decided to ask Ken a few questions about the redesign just before his move to the Big Apple and he was more than happy to provide us with an insight into his thinking, in addition to 8 glorious high-res images which can be viewed at their original size on the SI Flickr here.

I hope you enjoy this special feature and thank you once again to Samantha @ ICON and Ken for making this feature possible. I’d also like to give a warm shout out to Art Editor Shazia Chaudhry who worked überhard on that issue ;) .

www.iconeye.com
www.modernpublicity.com

Why was it time for a major design overhaul besides celebrating the 90th issue?
I was commissioned to do the redesign by the publisher Daren Newton and new editor Chris Turner (of Modern Painters and Cabinet magazine) who wanted to bring in a new look to support the change of editorial voice.

What informed your approach?
The approach to all my work is to make things as usable, simple and beautiful as possible. I guess this ethic relates to modernist principles and I do surround myself in a lot of mid-century design but I mainly try to draw inspiration from everything else that I see around me in my everyday life.

In the case of Icon, I did the bulk of the project on a beach in Hua Hin, Thailand where I would have lunch everyday under a canopy of brightly coloured beachfront umbrellas. Each food stall was rudimentarily branded under it’s own set of colours which ended up being a reference point for Icon’s chromatic navigation.

Every project has it’s beginning, so what was first on your agenda?
An obvious starting point to me was the masthead even though I didn’t necessarily have a green light to change it. A new masthead would be the boldest statement of change to the reader, and would set the tone for everything else to follow. I was confident of convincing Icon to change to a new masthead that would reflect the intelligence of their new editorial style. Apart from capitalising the masthead, I also used a combination of Berthold Azkidenz Grotesk and Citizen to create a customised typeface for this.

Talk us through the defining aspects of the new design – the Icon “toolkit” if you will…
Designwise, I felt that Icon needed to be easier to read, have bolder page navigation and be more accessible to the reader.

I developed and introduced more page furniture, navigation devices and colour treatments to help brand the pages and support the images. The vertical keylines brought structure to the pages, the lozenge-shaped page slugs added splashes of colour and the large page numbers were a nostalgic nod to Le Corbusier’s stencil typeface.

I also felt there was a need for a logo to add to extra elements to the corporate identity. I’ve always admired how Japanese graphic design manages to balance and contrast a logo and wordmark so I tried to bring this sensibility to the Icon logo when sitting alongside the masthead. The logo therefore was a bit of a balancing act. It needed to feel simple yet designed, bold but delicate.

In terms of art direction, I wanted to keep all the imagery as clean and simple as possible whilst still being warm and inviting. The best example of this is the cover photograph by David Sykes which I wanted to make as simple and striking as possible – a bold announcement of the redesign. I toyed around with many concepts for the “survival” cover theme with the obvious nuclear explosions and concrete bunkers ending up too negative and menacing. We finally settled on the Hazmat suit as I knew the fluoro orange colour would leap off the newsstands.

Was it also important to invest in the physical properties of the magazine?
While I always feel that stock is an important part of a magazine design, in this instance the brief was to ensure that Icon’s stock remained unchanged. We did however decrease the page size slightly to make it feel more solid and bookish.

What is next for Ken Leung in 2011?
I’m currently wrapping things up at Modern Publicity as I’ve accepted a position as Brand Design Director for the fashion label 3.1 Phillip Lim in New York. It was a tough decision to make, but I’ve always wanted to live in New York and the opportunity to work with such an exciting and forward-thinking brand was too good to refuse.