2017 Azbee Awards of Excellence
Category
Design > Magazine Redesign > Upper Midwest
Awarded to
Michael Miller, Assistant Art Director; Bruce Ramsay, Creative Director; Abbey Lewis, Editor in Chief; Abbie Westra, Director
Entry details
Convenience Store Products Redesign
Issue date (if applicable):
Publication name: Convenience Store Products
Publishing company: Winsight, LLC
Website home page: cstoreproductsonline.com
Please describe the publication's mission and readership:
Convenience Store Products magazine isn’t just a trade magazine; it is a tool for a diverse industry made up of multi-million dollar chains, rural single-store retailers and everything in between. While we certainly devote plenty of editorial space to lengthier, thoughtful convenience-store trend reporting, the bulk of our content is product reviews. Because the majority of our readership is made up of smaller, single-store or small-chain operators, they simply don’t have the capital or bandwidth to employ dedicated staff to stocking their shelves, store category by store category. We’ve been told by our readers that they rely on us to be their eyes and ears on the quickly innovating (and evolving) c-store industry. To that end, we dedicate ourselves and our pages to what they say they need: a means to help them run their businesses better. It is our core mission to educate our readers on the latest consumer trends, and ultimately provide the most basic implements in their c-store tool belts: Convenience Store Products.
Please describe the enterprising work that went into this entry and its significance or impact on readers:
Convenience Store Products had just finished its third year and we took a look at what seemed to be working and what did not. We found that our former tablet-sized version was in fact clumsy, oversized and looked curiously under-filled and uninvitingly dense with text. The logo—set in Bodoni—really wasn't a logo at all and had a dated, fashion magazine affect—which made no sense. Our updated look is as bright and organized as a store itself. The logo is inspired by the neon OPEN sign seen in so many c-store windows. The pages are user-friendly, each with many entry points, offering quicker hits of product information while looking less gray and "blocky." Category product buyers use trade magazines as their primary resource when learning about new products, so new category sections were added give additional insights on regional and demographic trends as well as sub-category spotlights. We abandoned our sans serif text and adopted a serif that is not only warmer in appearance, but one that takes up less space, leaving more room for photography and white space. Add to this, clean layouts, better use and execution of data points, and bolder colors gives Convenience Store Products magazine a consumer magazine look and feel. Finally, we added a mascot "C.S.Pete" who appears in each issue as the everyman operator, easing his way into the new information each issue has in store. If C.S.Pete can do it, so can you.
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Convenience Store Products Redesign
Category
Design > Magazine Redesign > Upper Midwest
Description
Publication name:
Convenience Store Products
Company:
Winsight, LLC
Winner Status
- National Gold Award
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