A few weeks ago, a friend recommended I check out the Bold Italic - "launch pad for local exploration." Besides its great backstories, I feel in love with its layout. Intrigued, I ordered the print edition.
One of the first things I noticed about the print edition is that it's not meant to be passively read. It's meant to be used as a guide for exploration. The table of contents doubles as a checklist of things to do. Each recommended action is numbered. This makes it easy to find the activity you're interested in. In Issue 1, there were 25 activities: Dress like everyone is watching, Space out often; Be a Locavore, and more.
Another design element I liked was the use of colored underlining and highlighting to identify the main sentiment for each action. These spot colors allowed you to flip through the magazine and quickly find an activity -- if you didn't have time to read the entire magazine from cover to cover, you didn't need to.
As I was sampling their first issue, I don't know whether these elements are issue specific or will be common throughout all issues. I do know that the content and layout hooked me, I subscribed. I'm looking forward to seeing how this magazine evolves.
How do you learn more about the city you grew up in?
Ciao Bella!
Eden
