Project Brief
This project involved researching a topic in depth to develop a strong understanding of its context and impact. The final outcome was a focused piece of visual media that translated those insights into a clear message.
Valiant Magazine aims to reintroduce the Riotgrrrl movement through an intersectional lens. After doing thorough research on the Riotgrrrl movement of the early 90's,
I discovered that one of the reasons the female punk rock scene died out so quickly was due to the lack of intersectionality. Valiant Magazine provides a space for the movement to come back to life while celebrating women in music from all backgrounds.
Research Process
Phase 1: Discovery
My initial research for this project was predominately based on “Sad Girl Music,” a genre of music defined by a melancholy sound of sad female artists. At first I was focused on Sad Girls from the 2010’s, where the genre took off via the social media app called Tumblr. The soft grunge, sad girl trends online were driven mainly by young teenage girls who found a community online who shared the same values and aesthetic goals as them. After establishing what exactly the sad girl genre is, I began finding more information on the history of sad girls, which lead me to learning about it’s angsty predecessor: The Riot Grrrl.
Phase 2: Planning
The tone that I first wanted to convey in my original brainstorming was “A Strong voice; full of emotion,” which was based off my research on the Sad Girl genre, instead of RiotGrrrl. As I dove deeper into this project, I wanted to steer away from the sad woman, and lean more towards the idea of the angry woman, and my project tone shifted.
I decided on 3 tone words that should stand out throughout what I create: Brave, Confident, & Daring
Phase 3: Inspiration & Purpose
After deciding to create a magazine, one thing that I needed to do was to look at hundreds of other magazines, to discover any common themes among them. I researched for interesting spreads and covers on these websites along with browsing the archives of popular magazines that I was already familiar with:
SPD.org and MagCulture
Phase 4: Title & Branding
The magazine cover needed a very bold word to catch the eye of any passersby. These are few of the words that I was debating on for the magazine title and why I didn’t move forward with them:
Brash (There is an archived magazine named BRASH!, Riot (Already a magazine), Abrasion (Sounds way too harsh)
I wanted the magazine to be noisy and bold, but still show braveness and resiliance.
I finally landed on the word Valiant, which means “possessing or showing courage or determination.” The word valiant typically brought forward the connotation of a valiant soldier, or a valiant male. This undertone has no basis in the definition however, as the definition shows that anybody can express valiance. I decided to challenge the typical use of the word.
The font has the power to attract or deflect attention of anybody browsing the magazine section in a store, so I needed to pick something large and edgy. I went with Roboto Medium.
VALIANT
Conclusion
Working on Valiant has taught me a lot about graphic design, but also about the power that women have in music and culture. The research that I found opened my mind up to so many different communities of women and artists, and has changed my perspective on the impact of both social media and print media.
I truly believe that there needs to be a resurgence of the Riot Grrrl Movement, and that now is the perfect time to start.
Mockup Designs & Final Flat Documents:
