Client: Freedom Fishing Magazine | Year: 2023 | Project: Full magazine design, distribution, coordination, editing, branding, community involvement, marketing, and growth
The Passion:
Freedom Fishing Zine was a personal project I launched in early 2023, born from my passion for both fishing and publication design. My goal was to combine these interests by self-publishing a digital magazine that would foster a community of anglers who share my enthusiasm for the sport. I decided to start with a manageable format—designing a concise monthly zine of 30-40 pages—to establish a foundation for a growing community.
The Process:
For Freedom Fishing Zine, I drew inspiration from my experience at Soccer360 Magazine. I aimed to create a publication that was both informative and engaging, filled with sidebars, interesting links, and educational content to cater to both novice and experienced anglers. This approach was something I regularly applied at Soccer360, and I sought to transfer those same skills and strategies to my own project, ensuring the zine would be both enjoyable and valuable for the fishing community.
The branding was the first thing I created. I designed a word mark that I paired with a graphic translation of a bass fish. I then created a typographic hierarchy system that I wanted to use throughout the zine. I designed headings and subheads, as well as the side bar headings, pull quotes, and folios. Once I had that ready, I designed the master grid layout system for the 8 x 10 pages, and key elements such as side bars and colour schemes, department flags, and mast head. I then echoed all of these elements onto a Wordpress website that went with the magazine where you can read and download the issues from.
I was able to create dynamic covers, feature story templates, and easy legibility all by creating the systems first. These were easily transferable from issue to issue, and with a dynamic colour palette, lead by a calming tone of teal, I was able to create exciting layout designs that appealed to our audience. Our pull quotes where bold and dynamic, and pages like “letter from the editor” were clean yet interesting. It definitely looked like a real magazine, however, due to budgeting, I was limited by a digital platform, and never got the opportunity to print them.
The Outcome:
The project quickly gained traction, attracting a diverse group of anglers from around the world. I had contributors from the USA offering their writing talents in exchange for advertising their small bait businesses, while I also contributed articles based on my own fishing knowledge. Additionally, I conducted interviews with professional anglers in Ontario and received photos from anglers and their friends, which added a personal touch to the zine.
The collaboration was so widespread that my goal of building a community of anglers was clearly realized. Through Instagram, I was able to connect with numerous fishermen and women by leveraging hashtags, location tags, and events. It was an incredibly rewarding project, and I’m proud of what I was able to achieve in bringing this passionate community together.
