Meanwhile ... In Charleston

The newsstand, while important, wasn't necessarily our first priority (if it were we probably would have rethought that oyster cover). Our main concern was to survive the recession while building a homegrown buzz around the brand. Now that the economy has stabilized (god-willing!), and the toddler is beginning to walk on its own, we've been softly experimenting with more "newsstand-friendly" covers in the form of authentic looking young gals in southern environs. As the brand matures a bit more I have a feeling we'll tweak our cover concepts further. What won't likely change are the very tempered arrangement of cover-lines, their scale and number.

Departments: Working on a new launch poses distinct challenges, as the brand has no real history from which to draw. As a result, the design has to be a bit malleable because it takes time for edit and art to coalesce on what's working and what's not--you know, growing pains. At any rate, this is how our section openers have taken shape.

Page Architecture: Column structure is an element I'm quite vigilant about. The venerable Tom Brown drilled his philosophy regarding column use into my brain at Outside Go a long while back and I'm really glad he did. Every element in our design quiver should be employed to further the look and feel of the brand however a schizophrenic grid just doesn't do anybody any favors. I might push around heds, deks, color schemes and entry point elements once in a while but I don't take to tinkering with the grid very lightly.

Illustration: One thing I'm especially proud of here at G&G is our commitment to illustration. At my last gig we only used one illustration per issue--sigh. Illustrators are warrior poets who defend the soul of a magazine. I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to work with geniuses John Cuneo, Tim Bower, John Burgoyne, Barry Blitt and Lara Tomlin in every issue. They are exceptional folks.

Features: G&G isn't a "design-y" magazine. We hang everything on good storytelling and brilliant photography. Given the nature of our content, the design is most effective when it's subtle. Of course there are times when I'd like to see the art /design/pacing /photo selection play a bigger role in the overall editorial solution but hey, you gotta pick your battles. Heres a handful of features from the last few issues. We work with great shooters, such as Peter Frank Edwards, Nathaniel Welch, Matthew Hranek, David McClister and Peter Yang and when you've got that kind of experience on your side you point them in a rough direction, let the reigns go and get out of the way. The hardest thing to do in the creative process is to let it grow and allow it to become what it's destined to be. It's all there for our enlightenment.

Texas: It astounds me how much creative talent lives in Texas. The layouts below prove my point. We had lensmen Dan Winters shoot musician James McMurtry, Dallas' Jack Unruh inked our entire sporting package before we made a u-turn back up to Austin to shoot with the incomparable Brent Humphreys. To be sure, like everything else in Texas, the talent there is BIG.

Because I'm a fan of Texas Monthly (with its tour de force creative directors Fred Woodward, Scott Dadich and now TJ Tucker) I decided to pay tribute to the iconic brand by snagging one of its old department design schemes--an elongated circle at the top of the page--and slapping it on the Austin City Portrait feature. I doubt if anyone else noticed it but it kinda tickled me so I went with it.

City Portraits: At first I wasn't sure what to make of our City Portraits, a recurring feature. I kept telling Sid, if it's going to be in every issue shouldn't it be a department that anchors DueSouth (our travel and adventure section)? He'd rightly roll his eyes and sigh. Finally after a couple of whacks at it we settled into a formula that I think works pretty well. City Portrait is basically a small travel package containing three sections: an essay opener, a list of hotspots (eat, drink, shop, stay and see) and short profiles of noteworthy locals. Our City Portraits are challenging assignments for photographers because they're a blend of travel reportage, food photography, portraiture, and photojournalism all rolled up into one.  We routinely give the package 10-14 pages that really allow the photography to do a lot of heavy lifting. I think most of our shooters find the hard work tremendously rewarding when they see it in print.

By all accounts Garden & Gun appears to be growing up fast and will likely be around for a long while to come. While the pages I shared represent what's new today I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued by what G&G will look like when it's all grown-up. But you gotta learn to crawl before you walk. Remember, baby steps.