Bringing a University Magazine to the Web

University magazines present an interesting challenge. The printed version will always be around, because faculty, donors and alumni prefer something tangible to hold in their hands. But the budget required to print thousands of copies can get out of hand.

Into this void steps a website dedicated to a magazine, hoping to accomplish the same goals as the glossy printed version. That’s where it gets tricky.

A university magazine or a journal may be quarterly or even monthly, with new issues and new themes for each edition, and print designers are usually prepared for this reality.

A printed version can throw on a fresh cover, complete with major sections designed with specific subject matter in mind. Magazine designers don’t necessarily reinvent the wheel with each new issue, but they’ve got considerable room to let content drive design, adding fresh new paint that adds meaning to the articles.

Website maintainers for print-publications, however, seem to have a more difficult go of it, the result being a dramatic drop-off between the experience a reader will have with the print version, as compared to the online version.

To put it simply, you can’t just slap a new cover on a website. Or, can you?

With the design of the soon-to-be-online version of UALR Magazine, I’ve tried very hard to allow for change. Drastic change. The main image borrows from the actual cover of the magazine. I’m hoping that when the next issue rolls around, the transition will be very easy.

…Change the main background component, and archive the previous issues that still retain their own look and feel.

A great deal of painstaking decision making usually goes into a design like this, but for some reason it came easy. The key for me is to keep it simple. Start of the core of the page and build outward. Focus on content. And design for change.

Oh and a few photoshop skills and an art degree. Those help a little, too.