Before & After

Before & After magazine is an evergreen design periodical that delivers practical solutions and realistic design projects in a tone and format that doesn't "talk down" to novice designers. Highly recommended for designers of all skill levels.

I could add another "Con" (or whine) to the list: Only 6 issues per year. This is not a high brow design journal or "what's new" product review publication. Before & After, is all about how to design something or how to solve a specific design dilemma. Every article shows and tells how to design or redesign a flier, a brochure, a notepad, a Web page, or other graphic design projects.

The presentation of the magazine contents differs from traditional magazines. The table of contents is at the very front of the magazine in an easy-to-scan list -- not hidden among half a dozen ads (no ads at all). Tutorials follow one after the other. Instead of the usual "maybe you'll find one, maybe you won't" page numbers, each page is labeled with an article number and tells you if it is page 1 of 5, 3 of 10, etc. No guessing how many pages to the end of a tutorial. They make it easy to save each issue (and you will want to) by pre-punching it for 3-ring binding.

Because Before & After focuses on how to choose fonts, images, and colors and how to arrange elements on the page rather than how to use InDesign or Photoshop or Flash the tutorials are as fresh and relevant two years down the road as they are the day the magazine lands on your desk. There's no need to thumb through dated product announcements, previews, reviews, and tutorials that apply only to certain software programs to find out how to do graphic design. Make this your first choice in design magazine subscriptions.