CASE STUDY / EDITORIAL DESIGN
A Mountain of Molehills: A Cover Story for Women in Science
AGU • EOS MAGAZINE • EDITORIAL • COVER + FEATUREEos, the science news magazine of the American Geophysical Union, was running a cover story on the career hurdles facing women in the earth and space sciences. I was given the headline, the anticipated article length, and a handful of images. Everything else, cover concept through feature layout, was mine to develop against a hard print date.
THE PROBLEM
The headline's 'mountain of molehills' was my cue. I chose a cover image with room for the type to fit within the scene, then layered it behind the mountain and the climber's backpack to tie the headline to the subject matter. For the feature, I selected two images of women literally climbing mountains and used the red-orange of a climber's backpack as the accent color throughout the layout. On the opening spread, both the background and the text columns angle upward to echo the climb, and one word, 'Illuminate,' is set in yellow to do exactly that.
THE APPROACH
A cover story where the design argument matches the editorial one: the obstacles are real, and so is the ascent. Delivered on the print date.
THE OUTCOME
The cover. The headline layered into the photograph, set behind the mountain and the climber's pack.
Cover Story
FRONT OF BOOK PLUS THE FULL FEATURE LAYOUT
1 Hard Date
A PRINT PUBLICATION DEADLINE WITH NO GIVE
Type in the Scene
HEADLINE INTEGRATED INTO THE PHOTOGRAPH
1 Color Cue
A RED-ORANGE BACKPACK CARRIED THROUGH THE ENTIRE FEATURE
Scope also included: A cover design, interior feature layout, concept development, creative direction, and photo editing.
The opening spread. Slanted background, slanted columns, and one climber's red-orange pack setting the palette: the mountain analogy carried into the typography itself.
Eos isn't a boutique print run. Each issue mails to roughly 60,000 scientists, researchers, and policymakers as a core AGU member benefit, eleven times a year. At that scale there are no reprints and no second chances: the cover had to be right before press, and the layered type treatment had to hold up everywhere the issue would live, from a mailbox across the room to a thumbnail on screen.
How I Work With Editors And Publications
Print publications run on hard dates, and we design accordingly. Give us the headline, the manuscript length, and whatever art you have, and we will bring back a cover and layout concept that serves the story, not just the page. And if the art doesn't exist yet, that's not a blocker: we research it, source it, or create it, from photo curation to original photography and illustration. Behind every layout is two decades of editorial design, an eye trained in photography, and thousands of pieces sent to press, so a concept carries from cover to folio under deadline pressure without cutting corners on craft. When the issue closes, it closes with the design intact.
Thirty minutes, no obligations. We'll talk about your publication, your deadline, and what the story needs from its design.
Planning a cover story?
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