Anabaptist Witness is a biannual global Anabaptist and Mennonite journal published by Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) in Goshen, IN. It explores key issues facing the church in mission. Issues are published in print and online each April and October, with additional content available online throughout the year.
I was contracted by AMBS in fall of 2017 to do typesetting and layout design for the journal. In addition to cover layouts, I also develop source art and illustration.
While the layout was provided and every issue mostly routine, a few issues presented themselves.
Print and Online design discrepancies
Firstly, the print layout did not match the journal's aesthetically superior and more intricate website.
A lackluster cover system
Secondly, the side-to-side full spread of the cover title section was large and intrusive on cover art, limiting what source artwork could be used or created for the cover. Portrait orientation graphics would lose an unexceptably large amount of art space to text.
After building trust and making the case for changes between issues 4.2 and 6.2, we were ready to implement changes after the completion of issue 6.2.
Interior typography
Starting with issues 7.1, in the interior the proprietary Adobe Caslon Pro is now the more accessible open-source EB Garamond, and article titles are set in a serif--all in alignment with the website. Various other small aesthetic and typographic conventions from the website were also integrated into the print version.
Table of Contents
The ToC was also modified, both to improve on the general weak design and to bring it into harmony with the website.
Cover formatting
On covers, titling now resides on a smaller card that can move around on top of the cover graphic, taking only a small amount of space compared with the previous text block, which would cover more than a quarter of the cover from side to side. This new card plays better with end-to-end graphics.
As a result, the overall brand of Anabaptist Witness is more harmonized, each issue is a touch easier on the eyes, and the cover layout can adapt to a wider range of images.
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