Magazine Redesign for UK Teaching Association’s Flagship Publication

Project Overview

The long-running UK teaching association, NATE – the National Association for the Teaching of English – approached me with a request to not only radically update the design of their flagship member’s magazine to reflect the director’s new vision for the magazine’s content and look, but to also provide support and training to enable subsequent issues of the new look publication to be produced in-house by the editor.

To help understand the new NATE director’s vision and guide the appropriate direction for the redesign, the project commenced with a thorough discovery phase where a range of similar publications from UK teaching associations along with other commercial magazines were explored.

The magazine was redesigned from the ground up with the introduction of a fresh set of typefaces, a flexible modular grid system, improved header signposting, and an updated art direction style that all combined to ensure that feature articles and regular columns maintained a cohesive look while allowing flexibility for creating impactful layouts. The new grid system also introduced an increased amount of white space to layouts — essential for a calm and inviting reading experience.

“As Director of the National Association for the Teaching of English, I asked Colin to redesign our flagship magazine, and working with him was an absolute pleasure from start to finish.

He listened attentively, asked thoughtful questions, and brought outstanding creative judgement, imagination, and technical skill to the project.

His approach was both highly collaborative and meticulously organised, and he worked with remarkable efficiency and care at every stage of the redesign process.

The result was a publication that felt fresh, confident, and true to our values, and both the NATE team and our readers were genuinely delighted with the finished magazine.”

Anthony Cockerill, Director of NATE