University student mag - masthead

Pat Armstrong30 January 2005 · 20:50

as one of the 2005 editors for my university's student magazine (officially it's a newspaper, but the design, footprint, and publication schedule make it feel more like a magazine), i'm in charge of (re)designing the masthead.

this has been giving me grief and headaches for days now. i've got a few (half-finished/half-baked) ideas (the edges are very rough, stray points here and there):

low-res gif

...and the pdf

- i quite like the top one, but i worry about legibility.
- the r and t in the second one feel unresolved. and the o hangs off the edge.
- i've been staring at these for too long now. my brain's broken -- any feedback appreciated.

some afterthoughts/background info:
these seem a bit 'techy', maybe? the magazine's always had a sort of 'grungy/street' feel to it (which i would like to keep, but not as an overarching/exclusive visual theme) - it's a fairly low budget, politicised/lefty magazine, distributed for free in stands on and around campus)

Chris Rugen2 February 2005 · 11:04

Frankly, I like the direction. It's less 'tech' to me and more 'funky, so bad it's hip-retro' it's more 'low-tech' to me because it feels self-consciously dated. I don't know if it's appropriate, but it's interesting. The rest of the mag would have to keep up with it, tho.

I like #3, since the implied connection between the descenders could hold date/issue/subhead info in it. The 'g' doesn't read right away. It reads a bit like 'vertieo' at first glance, but you might get around that by making the upper-left curve of the bowl into a corner.

Perhaps some distressing or faux-wear will make it feel more suited to the publication.