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APFEL Rebuild the AJ

A Practice for Everyday Life (APFEL) have redesigned the Architects' Journal as part of a move by publishers Emap Construct to refresh the title and increase its appeal to its main audience of architects and designers. APFEL were approached by AJ art editor Sarah Douglas who was keen to differentiate the journal from the plethora of other, often homogenous, architectural publications. “It just got to a point where someone in the industry needed to have a different approach, a fresher approach,” says Douglas. “One to attract a younger audience without alienating the older one.”

APFEL’s Kirsty Carter had studied graphic design with Douglas at the University of Brighton and, since then, the two had remained in touch — Douglas, as an art director, keeping an eye on what Carter and later APFEL were up to. Confident that APFEL could take the journal in a new direction, Douglas organised an initial meeting with the design team. “The AJ asked us to come in and show our work in an interview process,” says APFEL’s Emma Thomas. “Many of the comments at the presentation were that our work, even though in a two-dimensional printed form, led the audience into ways of exploring something which is three-dimensional. In the context of architecture, our work related well to the AJ and how its content can be translated into magazine pages.”

Interestingly, this is APFEL’s first magazine design project. Yet both Douglas and APFEL only ever saw this as an advantage. “It’s important in magazine design to get a different view, to challenge perceptions,” says Douglas. “APFEL can do that as they haven’t done a magazine before. I’ve worked on them for four years so it was a good balance that created something slightly fresher.”

“Not normally working on a magazine was probably the most challenging part of taking on the job,” adds Carter. “It’s a well established periodical with a strong and loyal following, on a subject matter we’re passionate about. Concepts and ideas are things we always push, so to work on a magazine that is so content driven, was fascinating.”

Working in collaboration with Douglas and AJ editor Isabel Allen, APFEL were keen to emphasise the notion of the AJ as a “journal” in terms of its format (now 265 mm x 210 mm), layout and even choice of paper stock. “We wanted it to feel more like a journal and less like a large, floppy oversized magazine,” says Thomas. “Although there are particular restrictions on papers for weekly titles in terms of weight and postage, we actually chose a heavier paper than they’d used before: a chalky coated stock (Lunasilk 100gsm) for the journal itself and an uncoated (Crossbow 115gsm) for the monthly product supplement, Specification, which will be saddle-stitched with a self-cover rather than perfect bound, so it feels more like a geeky index or technical guide.”

In any magazine, navigation is a key aspect of the design and APFEL’s decisions were shaped by the notion of the “architectural crit” – the process where architects literally “pin-up” all sketches and plans relating to a project for analysis. “By using markers at the top and bottom of the pages in each section, you can find your way around more easily,” says Carter. “This also then doubles up like a pin-board from which to hang images and drawings. Our aim was to move away from concentrating on ‘finished’ buildings and give more emphasis to the process and details, which is what the AJ has always been known for over the years. We tried to reflect that in the design: a sort of ephemeral simplicity, but with the format and layout inspired by journals and pin boards.”

Douglas believes that the new-look AJ has also, through the plentiful use of white space and generous layout, been allowed to breathe more”. Many architectural magazines suffer from the sheer volume of data, sketches and plans, not to mention photography, that take up a vast amount of content. In fact, Carter’s only critique of the previous AJ is that there was simply “too much visual bombardment” – something that the new, uncluttered version doesn’t suffer from at all.

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