Case da Abitare interview on CR Blog

Above: Cover from April 2008 issue of Case da Abitare, the first to feature Winkreative’s redesign. Illustration: Anthony Burrill

Kuchar Swara, Art Director: One of the first problems that we had with the old design was the layout and lack of distinctive page furniture, which made it so easy to confuse the advert ising with the editorial. We began to experiment with big bold numbers, page straps, framing devices etc. We wanted a real sense of pace and rhythm using typography, photo graphy and layout. The three sections had to be clearly divided without disturbing the general rhythm – the news pages, framed by a light coloured tint, use a very loose layout system which can cope with multiple stories as well as single articles. Primo Piano uses a tight grid-based layout system, using thin key-lines to frame the pages. We’ve employed various different types of photography to separate the stories – portraiture, travel, still life, set interiors, archi tecture, reportage, black and white photography, manufacturing, etc. The Portfolio section loses all of the page furniture of the previous sections – the strap at the top of the pages and the big page numbers, no tinted frames or thin key-lines. Design-wise the sense of pace and rhythm is achieved through much bigger, all cap head lines, more generous use of white space and longer standfirsts. To prevent this section from having the static feel of one home interior after another we have macro photography stories, illustration, portraiture as well as home interiors that look lived in as well as inspiring. We had just over four weeks to complete the redesign, in time for the Salone de Mobile. Of course being a relaunch as well we had a magazine that was over 300 pages, so plenty of late nights.

Read the whole interview with creative director Tyler Brûlé, art director Kuchar Swara and photo director Stephen Ledger-Lomas.