Counterpoint Magazine
Art direction and a flexible grid system for an arts quarterly.
- Client
- Counterpoint
- Role
- Editorial design, art direction
- Year
- 2024
- Discipline
- Editorial
Overview
Counterpoint is an independent arts quarterly. Each issue commissions new writing and photography, so the design needed to flex wildly while staying recognisably itself.
The challenge
Build a system that lets every feature breathe and look distinct, without the magazine losing a coherent identity issue to issue.
The approach
A robust baseline grid with a small set of considered overrides. A pairing of a tight grotesque for display and a readable serif for long-form. A masthead that can shift colour but never proportion.
- Editorial design
- Grid system
- Typography
- Cover art direction
“The grid is invisible to readers and a gift to editors. Exactly right.”
— Editor-in-Chief, Counterpoint
Four issues shipped on the system. Newsstand returns dropped and subscriptions grew across the year.