Code and Theory

Nylon -
Re-introducing
an Iconic
Publishing
Brand

Magazine / Webby Winner
Code and Theory

Magazine

"The card is the foundation of every story and is highly flexible for the story it needs to tell. The story determines the presentation — not the other way around." Code and Theory
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Q: Can you describe your project and the concept behind it? A: Nylon is about discovering the next big thing in entertainment and music. Our design brings to life grungy textures, graphical references like music festival posters, hand-written graphics and bold, energetic typography.
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Q: What influenced your chosen technical approach, and how did it go beyond past methods? A: The Nylon redesign leverages the card system foundation we’d developed for BDG over the years but with a unique design approach. Nylon attracts a predominantly female audience, focusing more on music, entertainment, beauty and lifestyle. This new audience, and therefore new topics, meant we had to generate novel card types and design motifs, such as horoscopes, Q&A and e-commerce.
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Q: What web technologies, tools, and resources did you use to develop this? A: We used BDG’s custom card system CMS that allows for endless visual card customizations. The card is the foundation of every story and is highly flexible for the story it needs to tell. The story determines the presentation — not the other way around.

When did you experience a breakthrough or an "a-ha" moment during this project?

Our design had to be flexible for Nylon’s publishing cadence, and how we supported this was through the grid and scale of elements reflecting the slower publishing pace with large imagery and expressive type.


Q: How did the final product meet or exceed your expectations? A: The final design really captured the original essence of Nylon from its print heyday, while modernizing it for a digital-first publishing experience.