Oregon Dept. of Fish & WIldlife
Oregon Wildlife Magazine
For almost a hundred years, Oregon Wildlife (and its previous incarnation, the Oregon Fish & Game Bulletin) had been sent, free for the asking, to state-licensed anglers and hunters. In 1999, the Department of Fish & Wildlife decided to turn it into a revenue stream, and commissioned us to reshape the biology-intensive former newsletter to attract a consumer audience (and justify a cover price), without sacrificing the scientific cachet it enjoyed among its longtime readers.
The redesigned magazine honored its newsletter roots: stories began on the cover, and because the magazine accepted no advertising, the information level inside was dense. Density was, of course, fine with the scientific constituency. A flexible, five-column layout helped soften it for everyone else, as did careful attention to hierarchical contrast in typography. Photography was both commissioned and culled from the department's archives.
The magazine was very well-received. But the Department was made up of biologists, not magazine writers, and the difficulty of generating good content on a bi-monthly basis without outside help was ultimately too much. After two years and sixteen issues, the Department pulled the plug.
Covers
From left: the inaugural issue, showing "power-newsletter" approach; and subsequent, more conventional treatment.
Typical article opening
The old version of the magazine was printed in one color and used little photography; part of our mandate was to show more, using a combination of department archive and commissioned photographs.
Editorial, continued
Follow-up pages from story on hatchery fish, showing handling of images from different sources. This is largely stuff from the ODFW archives.
Editorial, continued
Second follow-up spread from story on hatchery fish. Photography was commissioned for this article from Michael Jones.
Editorial, continued
Typical interior pages from Oregon Wildlife, showing Department member feature. Photography here is by Ken Anderson.
Editorial, continued
Spread from "Field Journal", a staging area for stories too short to rate the full editorial treatment.
Editorial, continued
Follow-up spread from "Field Journal", a staging area for stories too short to rate the full editorial treatment. If we had it to do all over again, we probably wouldn't choose the yellow background. Nice illustration of a lamprey by Paul Mort, though.
Editorial, continued
Community calendar, used by the department for wildlife-related educational events and birding opportunities as well as fish and game season notices.
