In early 2009, I came to Las Vegas and started working for the Greenspun Media Group. The local economy was in a horrible recession (I literally started the week of layoffs at the company) and the corporation was hoping that an experienced L.A. Creative could revamp the publications. Primarily, to help stem the loss of advertising dollars in their flagship tourism publication, Las Vegas Magazine.
It was a daunting task, in that there was major obstacles to overcome, both externally and internally. But I was uniquely equipped to handle the task and lay a successful 9 year foundation they could maintain after my departure.
I’m pretty sure to this day, they never expected the scope to which I changed the way they designed and produced… well, everything.
A redesign is a way to refresh a look and spur interest. However, in LVM’s case, so many others things needed to be addressed as well. Templates for junior designers, new photography methodologies, client reputation repair, budget constraints and making productions go further with less… Just to name a few.
Ultimately, the redesign saved the publication in a time when print was being cut from everyone’s budget. Providing the necessary time to revamp the advertising and distribution retention strategy for the corporation’s 30 titles and 27million newspapers and magazines.
New Look, Fresh Style
Some archival issues for comparison to show what the magazine used to be and it’s old LVM branding. With 5 covers a week, Las Vegas Magazine had over 260 covers a year and redesigning was a task with far-reaching implications.
Cover for a redesign launch needed to be unique, different and eye-catching memorable… not just “pretty” but something disruptive to the visual path the magazine had been on to date. So I reached out to local celebrities for a photoshoot. Holly Madison in cover role created an “ugly duckling” story for the magazine that featured Lon Kruger, Kissy Simmons, Ricardo Laguna, Anita Mann, and Erick Bergen in a modern reflection of some iconic story time protagonists for change.
"Life is a fairy tale, live it with wonder and amazement."
Summarily, the redesign was a success in that it achieved what it needed to with aplomb. Made the jaded audience stop, look, and wonder at what new thing was this plucky in-room tourism publication up to? Opening the door to everything that came after.