Magazine Art Directors Talk About InDesign

Different magazine art directors interact with InDesign in different ways. Some are hands-on using InDesign to create layouts from start to finish. Some use InDesign to sketch out layouts leaving it to others to fill in the details. Still others rarely touch the program we all know and love but know enough about InDesign to know what’s possible and when junior designers don't get it just right.

For LAIDUG’s 14th Anniversary, we are bringing together a diverse panel of magazine art directors—Randy Dunbar of SoCal, Stephen Kamifuji of Genlux, and Keely Brittles of California Wedding Day, Seattle Bride and Oregon Bride—to shed light on the manner in which they interact with InDesign. This special meeting presents a rare opportunity to see how magazine art directors do what they do to create their own unique brand of publication magic. (It’s also your opportunity snag some free magazines.)

Meeting Notes

By Alvin Takamori

A week before Thanksgiving, the Los Angeles InDesign User Group was thankful to celebrate its' 14th Anniversary. For this occasion, LAIDUG gathered a group of three magazine art directors at a meeting in the Rotunda of the Veterans Memorial Building in Culver City. Randy Dunbar of SoCal, Stephen Kamifuji of Genlux, and Keely Brittles of California Wedding Day, Seattle Bride and Oregon Bride, discussed their design processes.

Randy Dunbar was first to speak. Along with his current position as publisher and editor-in-chief of SoCal magazine, Randy has a long history working with numerous publications including Mademoiselle, GQ, Movieline, and LA Fashion. He also teaches at The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. For this meeting, he talked about his history and showed work from his portfolio. He first began using InDesign back in 1995. Initially he thought the array of choices in the program were confusing, but now it is the layout program for his magazine designs. He also showed and discussed various examples of designs created by his students.

Keely Brittles outlined the extensive process she goes through to create a publication. It begins with a discussion of ideas with the editor. Among other things, they’ll look at the market and current trends.

Once the concept for a publication is chosen a plan for deadlines is laid out. Creatives needed for the project are hired. A photo shoot which typically takes 3-4 days is scheduled. A location scout finds places for the shoots. Then, logistical issues like permits are addressed. After that, time to create copy, design a layout, and select photos is needed.

Files are shared with the editor using the Cloud. Then production is brought in to make an InDesign book. A final proof is printed and checked, then the publication is uploaded to a printer.

To assist the design process, mood boards mocking up the desired look with sample photos are created. Typefaces are selected, and a layout with emphasis on the images are designed.

Any good images which didn’t make it into the printed publication are used for social media and marketing.

After a short break to mingle and grab snacks, our third art director gave his presentation. Stephen Kamifuji is a graduate of Art Center College of Design and has a collection of national and international design awards including a Clio, Western Art Directors, and Communication Arts awards. He described Genlux as a fashion-philanthropy publication. It comes out bimonthly. He is the Creative Director overseeing the aesthetics and marketing and doing the editing.

He shared a promotional video that he is working on featuring Kim Kardashian. Celebrities are often willing to participate for free in order to receive exposure. Over time, Stephen has built a network including editorial and advertising people that has expanded as the magazine grew. Twenty percent of his advertising features luxury items.

He uses Hightail Spaces to share his publication with art directors and clients. He can send high resolution PDF files that can be marked with notes and comments.

Stephen recommended that in pursuit of work, it’s a good idea to do things that you have an interest in.

Following the presentations by each art director, there was an extensive question and answer session with the audience.

To celebrate LAIDUG’s 14th anniversary, the raffle featured a one-year subscription for Adobe Creative Cloud and a 32” TV. Even if you didn’t win a prize in the raffle, everyone who attended walked away with swag bag full of goodies that was distributed at the end of the meeting.

Farthest Attendee

The bona fide LAIDUG member who travels the farthest specifically to attend the meeting will receive her or his choice of any one deal at MightyDeals up to $50.00. MightyDeals offers fonts, templates, apps, e-books, etc. You need to prove to us that you traveled farthest to attend this meeting. Having recently moved to the area from somewhere else won't cut it. Be prepared to show us indication of your current residence—perhaps a driver's license or a utility bill. Decision of the administrators of the Los Angeles InDesign User Group is final. Winner — Joni Casimiro

Raffles

LAIDUG is supported by raffles of donated prizes. No one is required to participate in the raffles. Raffle tickets are: 1 for $3, 2 for $5, 5 for $10, 11 for $20, 24 for $40, 32 for $50 and 65 for $100. All major credit cards are accepted.

Raffle Prizes and Winners

32" Toshiba LED TV Winner — Illana Findkin

Adobe Creative Cloud. 12 month subscription. Value $599.88 Winner — Jim Nissen
Collection of 24 Adobe software applications for graphic design, video editing, web development and photography including InDesign, Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, Premiere Pro and Dreamweaver among others.

Markzware. Any single product. 12 month subscription. Value $199.00 Winner — Norine Lukaczyk (PDF2DTP)
Choose one from the list below:
Q2ID (Quark to InDesign), Convert and open QuarkXPress files in InDesign.
PDF2DTP (PDF to InDesign), Convert PDF files to InDesign.
ID2Q (InDesign to Quark), Convert and open InDesign documents in QuarkXPress.
MT (Markzware), Convert InDesign documents to IDML files readable by InDesign CS4 through CC 2017.
FC (FlightCheck), Check native and PDF files for printing quality.

Expo Creative Asset Manager for Mac from Insider Software Winner — Jim Nissen

Suitcase Fusion 8 from Extensis. 12 month subscription. Value $119.95 Winner — George Wilde
Font management program that allows you to organize your fonts from one plane—including system fonts, purchased fonts, fonts synced from Adobe Typekit, Google fonts, etc.

Font Agent Pro from Insider Software. Value $99.95 Winner — Randy Dunbar
Font management that allows you to organize, distribute and control your fonts.

Designing for Print, the Art & Science by Marina Poropat Joyce. Value $95.00 Winner — Wayne DeSelle
A book for graphic designers, web designers and students with all the know-how needed to work with printers to achieve successful print projects.

InMotion Hosting. Web hosting and free domain. Value $90.00 Winner — Adam Khalid
Web hosting company.

TEON DVD+R 4x DVDs. 4 packs of 20 Winner — Amarpal Khanna

DTP Tools Cloud for InDesign. 6 month subscription. Value $77.40 Winner — Keely Brittles
Suite of 14 different InDesign productivity tools.

Adobe Stock. 15 image licenses. Value $44.00 Winner — Max Ramirez
Royalty-free, high-quality photos, videos, and illustrations.

InDesign Magazine. 6 month subscription. Value $30.00 Winner — Adam Rocksolid
Monthly PDF publication devoted to InDesign how-tos, in-depth features, and quick tips.

Philips 52X 700MB CD-R. 50 pack spindle Winner — David Payant

Creative Web Design with Adobe Muse Winners — Rocie Carrillo, Beverly Houwing, David Payant, Michael Powe

LA Web Professionals Group meeting tickets. Value $7.99 (four raffles) Winners — Meghan Alpay, Rocie Carrillo, Itzel, Ocampo, Max Ramirez
Adobe user group that meets monthly with an emphasis on web design, marketing and the latest internet trends.

About the Presenters

Keely Brittles

As an Art Director and Graphic Designer, Keely Brittles uses various software for her work and InDesign is chief among them. She is based in Los Angeles and currently works as an Art Director for multiple west coast Bridal magazines including California Wedding Day, Seattle Bride and Oregon Bride. In addition, Keely is responsible for visual branding and marketing for wellness and women’s fashion accessories brands. After receiving a degree in Graphic Design from Salford University, Manchester, Keely entered the industry via brand development agencies in Los Angeles and London where she developed her skills producing layouts, printed media, and refining typography.

Randy Dunbar

Beginning with his college poetry journal, Randy Dunbar has worked on both coasts for a whole host of publications. In New York, he gave his touch to Mademoiselle, Self, GQ and Health magazines. Later, in Los Angeles, he was art director at Movieline, HOME, Exposure, The Advocate, Out, Genre, Muscle & Fitness, and Code, Larry Flynt’s only non-porn venture. He is also responsible for the redesign of California Apparel News. In an extension of his brand, he became editor-in-chief of The LA Fashion, while also retaining the title of art director. He is currently publisher and editor-in-chief of SoCal magazine and teaches at The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, with typography, pre-press, and publication design as specialties.

Stephen Kamifuji

Stephen Kamifuji is a graduate of Art Center College of Design where he was a recipient of the Belding Awards Scholar- ship. After college, he designed award-winning work for Intel, Japan Airlines, Honda, Kawasaki, Recaro, and others— garnering over 40 national and international design awards, including a Clio Award, Western Art Directors Awards, Art Directors Club of Los Angeles, and Communication Arts awards. In 2003, Stephen began his editorial design career as creative director of Privilege Magazine. It was here that he first used InDesign— making the difficult transition from his first software love, Quark Express. In 2005, Stephen founded the award-winning magazine, Genlux, now in its 14th year of publishing.