CannaMag
Online cannabis magazine
To create an online magazine about a usual topic, I would say it’s more of the same, in the way that, because everybody talks about it, it’s no strange subject to anybody. But to talk about a taboo or miss conceptualized subject, now that could be interesting.
That’s why my team partner and I thought about designing an online magazine talking about overall mental and body wellness including medicine marihuana, the healing properties of cannabis, and the latest of it all… CBD Oil!
What was the initial challenge? — To synthesize all available information about the target readers, people who might be interested in becoming partners and/or sponsors, and how to offer a different way of consuming this type of content and not to be just cleared because of its nature.
For this project, we used this specific tool to throw the cards on that table and look at it from a different perspective, so we could eventually develop a more visually appealing Affinity Diagram and figure out functionalities with user-centered design around all decision making.
We also had to define our meta target, someone that doesn't get afraid of a taboo subject, someone a bit more liberal in that sense.
Someone we could identify with and think he/she would be a real person with real qualities.
That’s why we needed to do a User Persona. We needed to identify this person and get to know him/her much better. And, now that we’ve empathized with Elaine, we can study the look & feel of our soon to be known brand.
We had this vision of an open-minded brand in which every reader would feel welcomed. We wanted our target to live & interact with a community so great, that they all would feel comfortable sharing ideas and consuming content in the most comfortable way.
Some of the inspiration for this project was the most iconic symbol of weed we could find. The Cannabis flower. We also mixed a drop referring to CBD Oil, but much more than that, the drop and cannabis flower means unity, in a symmetrical way it’s meant to be inviting, like a circle, a cycle, it never ends, it never stops. It just goes. Cool huh?!
So, with a lot of information in place, organized, synthesized, a user persona, and branding, we created a Design System for the online environment in which this magazine would live, express, and distribute content. We concentrated on an 8-pixel grid because our data (user persona, interviews, and polls) told us.
We used a different kind of card components, with (obviously) different purpose. Alongside a color palette and typography hierarchy for each element. We decided on pastel colors for a more smooth and “relaxed” reading experience and rounded edges for subtle image/video display.
With all set and done, we hope you enjoy our final high fidelity prototype!
