When Hue, the alumni magazine of New York City’s Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), was redesigned in 2022, the editors vowed to make each new issue feel like a gift.
With the Fall 2023 edition, they took the gift idea to a new level when they highlighted the work of packaging design graduate students by adding a surprise present to the cover – one hiding in plain sight! Designed by our friends at Alexander Isley Inc. [projects / website], the 36-page magazine was printed offset CMYK by GHP Media.
Following the “big and bold” visual approach that Alexander Isley established for the redesign of the magazine, the issue is slightly oversize – 9.5 x 12 inches – with the same clean, photo-packed design that earned the studio a First Place 2023 PRINT Award from PRINT magazine.
It features profiles of the institute’s grad students as well as photographs of their packaging design work, its vibrant colors beautifully popping off the uncoated Sylvamo Accent Opaque stock [PaperSpecs PRO Members: Get Swatchbook!].
And in keeping with the magazine’s pledge to make each issue feel like a gift, the designers outdid themselves. How? By transforming the cover into a box that, thanks to the use of Die Cut perforations and scoring, can be punched out and assembled by the reader!
Featuring a pattern designed by FIT graduate Masha Parfenov, the box can be held together by folding it into place and adding a little clear tape to the flaps.
The key to making this all work? Finding just the right degree of perforation. Naturally it had to be sturdy enough to stand up to handling by the postal system without coming apart, yet easy enough for the reader to punch out the box without reaching for the X-Acto knife.
Not only is this cover interactive and fun, but it also fulfills the magazine’s mission: “to represent FIT’s wildly unconventional community.” Though as you can see, “unconventional” doesn’t necessarily mean “thinking outside the box.” 😉
