Força Vegan Magazine
Força Vegan Magazine began during the pandemic in 2020. It was created by the client to highlight the animal rights and associated vegan activism happening around the world. Contributions have so far been included from writers across Asia, Africa, Europe, the US, New Zealand & beyond.
The work
The goal the client set out to achieve was to create a free publication with a strong and impactful, bold identity. We set out to create a look and feel that was unapologetic, educational and at times brash and unrelenting, reflecting in some ways the movement it describes within. The content is at times lengthy, straying in that sense from a typical magazine into more of a collection of essays, and there's very little advertising.
Issue 6 of Força Vegan Magazine featured here is 200 pages long and the content of this issue is typically long and in-depth. My role here was to take the copy provided, proof read it for grammar, repeated information and with a general sensitivity to the readers in mind. After reading through, I would often source images if not provided, as well as edit, upscale and fix photos where required using Photoshop and Topaz Labs among other software. I would then design each article within the parameters of the branding using Adobe InDesign.
A sample issue is available below, along with screenshots and mock-ups of issue 6.
Força Vegan is a digital magazine that launched in 2021. It's contributors are spread across the world and the vast majority of the content is voluntarily submitted by activists. My job is to make each article as visually engaging as possible with the images provided, from start to finish.
Where there are no or few images supplied, my role then becomes sourcing images where there are none using online sources, creating them myself or in some cases AI. I also edit content to fit through spellchecking and proof reading, and I spend some of the process repairing photos using Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom and in some cases upscaling using Topaz Labs Gigapixel, DeNoise and Sharpen AI. Then it's time to layout the articles, format the text with respect to typography, colour and other design principles and create each article this way in turn.
Akashinga
I'm very excited to have reached Adrian Steirn by email, a professional photographer who took all the photos of Akashinga used in this issue including the cover of the magazine, and the IAPF to gain permission directly for their use. Thanks to Adrian's talents as a skilled photographer and his and the IAPF's kindness I was able to help bring this issue of Força Vegan to life whilst also sharing the Akashinga story.
Are there insects in your chocolate?
The below image and opening double page spread is for a cross-contamination article, and is an example of my creating a custom image in Photoshop. After reading the article in full, I decided to name the article 'Are there insects in your chocolate?' and create a sort of Kinder Surprise with a cockroach inside. It's a striking image that fits the space and it's hard not to read the headline because of it.
The Art of Philip McCulloch Downs
This article is special to me as whilst I've previously had a say throughout the production of this magazine, I was the one to conduct this interview with Philip - a very talented artist and fellow member of the Art of Compassion Project.
Think Like A Vegan
Written by the co-author of the book of the same name, Emilia Leese summarised the success of her podcast so far, announcing series 2 in part through this article.
An abridged version of the magazine is available below.