Psychology Today Editorial typographic illustration

Psychology Today was launched in 1967 with the intent of making psychology literature more accessible to the general public. They briefed design agency Superfried to develop bespoke typography and a logomark for their 50th Anniversary edition of the magazine.

The client supplied a 3D typographic design reference and requested that the illustration style should convey the alphanumeric: PT50. Since it was for their 50th, rather than replicating the highly polished renders featured in the reference visual, I wanted to go more retro with a nod to their heritage. Also, due to the nature of their content, I wanted to create letterforms that mentally challenged the reader. This led to the idea of using isometric, mind-bending structures within the creative solution.

Design experimentation generated numerous ways to interconnect the letterforms. An apt two-colour palette of black and gold was applied to the final design solution. With the illustration style complete, a marque to carry the theme through the feature was requested. For consistency, the isometric perspective was continued via a hexagonal frame and '50' based on the existing letterforms created.