Ian James Andersen

Dana Stirling : Cache Memory

Dana Stirling
Patron Magazine

Publication Design

A series of spreads showcasing photographs from Dana Stirling's Cache Memory series for Patron Magazine.

Client

Patron Magazine (school project, professor Karen Dorff).

Outcome

Print Magazine Spreads

About

These spreads are meant to showcase the work of the photographer, we created layouts and typographic structures that went along with the photographs and tied them in with the concepts behind the series. The copy is based on an interview with the artist so it was important to create a system to distinguish the questions from the responses.

Magazine Spreads

These magazine spreads were created to showcase the work of Dana Stirling from her Cache Memory series, alongside an interview with the artist.

Concept

The driving concept behind the layout came from a line in the interview where the artist talks about the name of the series being both a computer term and the idea of hidden memories. I wanted to make the spreads reflect that digital archive and retain the quiet unease the images contain.

Approach

I decided to make the focus on the images being displayed in large scale and pairing them based on the colors in the photographs. I also used a slash and colon graphic throughout the spreads as a call back to the title of the work.

Typography

For this project we were limited to a choice between DIN, Garamond, or Klavika, I chose DIN because of it's techy design which I thought worked well with the theme of works being shown.

Color

The colors in the typography were sampled from the photographs used on the spreads, I didn't want the color to distract from the photography but also wanted to keep the type itself interesting. I chose the photographs to display based on their color in relation to one another.

Process

Because these spreads were intended to show off photography, the first thing I did was look at the photographs and read as much as I could about the photographer.

Research

For research I visted the photographer's website and browsed online for interviews and artist statements. I learned that Stirling used both found photography and created original images that were used together in the Cache Memory series as a way to evoke the feeling of lost and recovered rememberances.

Opening Title

Because the layouts are meant to be dominated by the photography, the primary place for design work to add to the perception of the photographs was primarily the title spread. I sketched and exprimented with a number of ways of displaying the photographer's name and the series title, primarily basing them around the idea of the colon slash mark of a digital archive.

Thumbnails

The thumbnail pages to the right are palced next to continuing expriments with the almost final version of the title typography, they are primarily experimenting with how to create pacing and variety among the spreads.