On Ice
On Ice is an independent drinking culture magazine that aims to bring your favourite spirit to life. With the rise of cocktail culture, each issue focuses on a different spirit, suggesting new bars to visit, recipes to try and the culture surrounding that spirit.
Duration
5 weeks
Client
Student project
Year
2026
Deliverables
Magazine issue 1, issue 2 & 3 covers
Overview
This editorial project involved developing a finished proposal for an independent magazine that showcased a distinct visual identity, masthead and a series of cover designs. On Ice features a range of editorial content, including a contents page, editor’s note, feature articles, short articles, listings and interviews.
Research
To ensure my magazine reflected real life drinking culture, I drew on my own experiences alongside research into wider drinking habits and trends. I explored previously published articles covering a range of topics, from new bottomless brunch offers, to the rising cost of drinking at festivals and how this can affect the overall experience.
While researching existing drinking culture magazines, I found that the majority were mainstream publications, often found in supermarkets and newsagents, rather than independent magazines. This identified an opportunity to create a more considered publication that explored drinking as a wider cultural experience, rather than focusing solely on the drinks themselves.
Design process
Typography
On Ice has a strong emphasis on typography, utilising two typefaces throughout the publication. The masthead is typeset in Loretta, a contemporary serif typeface designed for intense editorial use. Its suitability for both long body text and larger display sizes made it particularly effective for the masthead.
Accompanying the masthead, the tagline ‘The sipping culture’ is set in the sans serif typeface Sweet Sans Pro. Including the word ‘culture’ in the tagline expands the magazine beyond making and tasting drinks, instead allows On Ice to explore wider drinking experiences. The introduction of a sans serif typeface creates contrast between the classy feel of the magazine and Loretta typeface, helping to reflect different sides of drinking culture explored throughout the publication.
Grid
On Ice follows a six column grid, with a gutter of 16.5 pts (5.821mm) due to industry standard of magazine design. This allowed for flexibly layouts using both two and three column layouts. I ensured the top and bottom margins aligned to the baseline grid, allowing for eight equal rows.
Cover design
Although each of the three covers designs focuses on a different spirit, they all follow the same underlying grid and visual structure to ensure consistency across the series. Rather than explicitly displaying the name of that issues spirit, the covers communicate the culture and experiences explored within each issue through the image chosen.
Image treatment
While image treatment was important to the visual style of magazine, the content of the images was equally important. I selected imagery that represented drinking culture, rather than focusing on the drinks themselves, for example, high prof
ile events with interesting cocktails, drinking abroad, and sporting events centred around a particular drink.
Article treatment
On Ice opens with a short article in ’the Classics’ section, with the heading referencing the popularisation of the dirty martini. Beneath the heading, the subheading is typeset in Sweet Sans Pro, consistent with section headers, followed by the author and image credits. All main articles follow this treatment, regardless of section. As magazines often are picked up and ‘scanned’ rather than read from beginning to end, clear section headers and page indicators were important for helping readers navigate through the publication.
Section treatment
On Ice contains several different sections throughout, with the Occasions’ section introduced in this particular issue. Although the section opener does not differ typographically from other sections, two key changes help to distinguish it. The first is the change in paper stock: previous articles use 115gsm Novatech Digital Silk, whereas Occasions uses 120gsm Olin Natural White paper. The second is the change in body text from justified to unjustified (ragged) type.
Feature article treatment
The gin edition contains two feature articles, with the main feature spanning six double page spreads and links directly to the cover image. To create consistency while allowing the feature article to stand out, the heading poses a question to the reader, and is also typeset in Sweet Sans Pro instead of the usual Loretta Display.
The outcome
Binding
While publications such as Vogue use perfect binding, I felt the inclusion of different paper stocks throughout On Ice made section sewn more appropriate. All three magazines were section sewn, with each containing four sections of four pages. The covers were laminated on both the inside and outside, with the masthead and tagline finished with silver foil. These physical finishes reinforce the refined, premium feel of the publication.
