Patagonia Redesign: “Living on Easy”

Project Overview

The goal of this project was to transform the Patagonia article “Living On Easy” from a basic blog format into an immersive, magazine-style layout. Patagonia’s printed magazines carry rich, visual stories that deserve a similar treatment on the web, where storytelling meets design craft.

Challenges & Approach

The challenge was to replicate the feeling of the physical magazine while maintaining web usability. By focusing on design details, like larger hero sections and two-column text blocks, I sought to slow down the reader’s pace and encourage them to appreciate both content and layout, mimicking the leisurely feel of flipping through a printed magazine.

Key Design Decisions

Typography: Using Palatino (fallback for Copernicus) for most of the headlines and body text and Avenir New for support text like captions, sourced directly from Patagonia’s brand fonts. Body text is set to 20px with a 32px line height and paragraph spacing of 24px, ensuring clarity.
Hero Section & First Paragraph: Designed to occupy 85% of the viewport height, drawing readers in visually while also signaling the start of the story with a larger first paragraph (32px) block.
Two-Column Layout: I used a 12-column grid with generous margins (160px for the first paragraph, 128px between two-column blocks), creating breathing space to echo the experience of a well-spaced magazine layout.
Photo Sections Placement: Photos alternate between left and right alignment with mirrored grids for consistency, ensuring the content flows in harmony with the visuals.
Magazine-Style Elements: Included special sections like Quote, Full-Width Photo, and First Paragraph blocks, each crafted to create design pauses in the story.

Typography

For the redesigned Patagonia article, I carefully selected font families that reflect the magazine’s elegant, natural feel while ensuring readability across devices.

Heading 1: Palatino Regular with a large 149px font size (186px line height) for a striking and bold introduction.
Heading 2: Avenir Next Regular, set at 28px to provide a clean and modern look for subheadings.
Heading 6: Avenir Next Medium with a 32px font size and 24px line height, offering a solid hierarchy within the body content.
Quote: Palatino Regular, sized at 64px for emphasis, with a generous 72px line height, making key phrases stand out in the layout.
Paragraph Large: Palatino Regular at 32px/40px for introductory paragraphs to echo the printed magazine’s classic aesthetic.
Paragraph Medium: Palatino Regular at 20px/32px for the body copy, enhancing readability with a perfect line height.
Paragraph Small: Avenir Next Medium at 16px/24px for footnotes or secondary information, keeping the content clean and legible.
Caption: Avenir Next Regular at 14px/21px for image captions, ensuring subtlety while maintaining clarity.

This typography selection harmonizes traditional and modern elements to create a balance between readability and visual sophistication.

Note: I only created the necessary sizes for this challenge.

Pros and Cons of Two-Column Layout

Pros

Enhanced readability for long-form content.
Mimics traditional print, bringing a magazine-like experience to the web.
Creates design harmony, making it easier to integrate images and other media.

Cons

Can cause readability issues on smaller screens.
It may be harder to navigate with continuous scrolling, breaking user reading flow.
Requires precise control over spacing and margins to avoid content crowding.

Responsive Grid System

The design utilizes a flexible 12-column grid with 48px margins on the left and right, and a 24px gutter between columns. This grid is responsive, stretching fluidly to accommodate screen sizes from 1440px wide up to a maximum width of 1600px, ensuring a balanced and cohesive layout across various desktop displays.

12-column grid for Desktop and Tablet screen sizes

Custom Sections for a Visual Impact

Hero: A full-width, attention-grabbing section that sets the tone for the article with bold imagery and engaging content.

First Paragraph: A larger, more prominent introductory paragraph styled to create a magazine-like feel and draw readers into the story.

Two-Column Paragraphs: A magazine-inspired layout for body text that splits paragraphs into two columns, encouraging a slower reading pace and a more thoughtful engagement with the content.

Photo Left & Right: A visually aligned section with images placed on the left or right, creating a dynamic flow between text and visuals.

Photo Full: A striking full-width image section that breaks the text-heavy layout, offering a moment of visual pause.

Quote: A stylized, blockquote section that highlights key phrases, adding emphasis and a sense of rhythm to the article.

What Stayed the Same

I preserved the header, footer, related stories, sharing bar, and Patagonia Values sections to maintain brand consistency and allow easy user navigation. The primary focus of this redesign challenge was not to overhaul these areas but to elevate the storytelling experience within the article itself.

Next Steps

Design a mobile-friendly version with adaptive visuals.
Incorporate audio and video elements for a more interactive experience, such as a floating voiceover player that changes based on the section being read.
Implement email subscription options to increase user retention and grow the online magazine’s audience.
Add event tracking on the sharing bar to analyze user interactions and optimize engagement strategies.
Subtly incorporate product placement throughout the story in a way that feels natural and non-intrusive to the reader.
Implement Figma Variables for Typography sizes to help in managing responsiveness automatically. This will allow for more efficient and consistent management of typography across different screen sizes and devices.

Conclusion

The redesign of Patagonia’s “Living on Easy” article was a rewarding challenge, blending the timeless elegance of a printed magazine with the flexibility and dynamics of the web. By focusing on key elements like typography, layout, and custom sections, the design encourages users to slow down, appreciate the storytelling, and immerse themselves in the visual experience. The result is a modern, visually engaging article that preserves the spirit of Patagonia’s brand while enhancing its digital presence.

The original article can be found on Patagonia’s website, and my final design, with all sections combined, is available in the Figma prototype link here.

Timeline

Research and Inspiration: 1 hour
Grid and Layout Design: 1.5 hours
Typography and Custom Sections: 1 hour
Fine-tuning Spacing and Visual Elements: 30 minutes
Total Time: 4 hours

This project not only refined my design skills but also deepened my understanding of balancing aesthetic design with web functionality. Future improvements will focus on creating a mobile-friendly version, enhancing the multimedia experience, and integrating user engagement features.