Handy Ma’am is “an inspirational tool for today’s women”. This magazine provides tutorials, tips and tricks to becoming that empowered handy-person every woman has the poten-tial to be.
Tools and construction may be intimidating to some women, but this magazine will help the reader feel comfortable and confident while completing everyday handy tasks. The example topics include handy tips and tricks, tool tutorials, and generally how to complete small handy work around the house. This magazine targeted to appeal to the female home/property owner without alienating the potential male customers.
To give the magazine a sense playfulness and to reach this target audience, there is a use of tools and building materials to create the visuals. I felt it was important to incorporate female artifacts, such as makeup, jewelry, perfume bottles, hair brushes etc. in with the usual hand tools.
Using original photography, I created a peg board set up of a woman’s workshop, incorporating a necklace, and a makeup brush for the front cover. For the magazine’s masthead I decided to create handmade display type. With a hand-cut stencil of Helvetica reading “Handy Ma’am”, I spray painted the magazine title onto a piece of pine wood, photographed it, and used it as the official Handy Ma’am masthead. Using this handmade feel logo, really gives a sense of that do it yourself feel I was aiming to capture.
