Case Study
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 332’s Newsletter Magazine
IBEW Local 332’s quarterly news magazine plays an important role in keeping members informed, connected, and engaged. Each issue brings together updates from across the union—from major job sites to member spotlights—requiring a layout that can support a wide range of content while remaining clear and easy to navigate.
To support this, I developed a more robust publication template system designed to bring consistency, flexibility, and efficiency to the production of future issues.
The Challenge
The existing publication relied on a template, but over time it had become less consistent and more difficult to use. Styles had drifted, and layouts often required manual adjustment rather than being driven by a clear system.
The visual direction also no longer matched the level of sophistication of the work being featured. With members building complex, high-profile projects, the communications lead wanted the publication to feel equally current and state-of-the-art.
The challenge was to create a more structured, flexible system that could support a wide range of content while maintaining familiarity for readers.
From Template to System
The update introduces a more defined framework for building each issue, with a consistent grid and a full set of paragraph, character, and object styles guiding layout decisions instead of relying on manual adjustments.
At the same time, the visual direction was brought forward to better reflect the work being featured. The masthead and typography were refreshed, and the palette shifted from heavy beige to a more intentional use of gold drawn from the logo.
A conduit pattern from the masthead was extended throughout the publication to create a unifying visual thread, grounding each page. Increased white space and more deliberate spacing give the layouts a lighter, more open feel, aligning the publication more closely with the high-tech environments the members work in.