PNW Gardening Magazine Mockup

Hello ;-)

My name is Martyn, I am a graphic designer living and working in wonderful Portland, Oregon. I graduated from school a couple of weeks ago, and I have been tossing around the idea of creating a quarterly journal of gardening for folks in the PNW (northern California and on up to Alaska). I need to begin with a title and banner treatment before proceeding to content, grid and other ideas. With that in mind, I would like your help. I developed an extensive list of title ideas. The title would be separate from the tagline, such as "The Journal of Gardening in the Pacific Northwest." I just need the title, such as "Organic Gardening" or "Garden Gate."

Below are some of the top ideas I had. If you could take a quick second to tell me your favorite , or three, and if you're so inclined, contribute some ideas—I can think of no better place for suggestions than here on Dave's.

If you're interested, a small sample of my work can be viewed here:

http://jamesmartyn.com/MARm242INTfinal.v2.pdf

Be patient, the pdf is fairly large and may take a minute to download. It reads best in Safari or Acrobat Reader as it is somewhat interactive. If not, you can just scroll down. Of particular interest is the beekeeping magazine I created called Apiary. Thanks in advance!

THE LIST:

•Moss

•Cascade Gardener

•Ivy & Moss

•Northwest Gardener

•The Rainy Side

•Four Seasons

•Cascadia

•Nasturtium

•Fir & Flower

•Grey to Blue

•Douglas & Daffodil

•Moss Covered

•Rootstock

Loving your ideas! Especially if you will need writerz. So you are still loving Portland as much as when you 1st moved here? It sounds as if you made the most of Mt. Hood's program.

My favorite of the possible names is "Fir and Flower."
-- it soundz cool
-- it's descriptive
-- it implies a range of content

Can't wait for everyone else to weigh in!

I also like 'Fir and Flower'....alliterative, includes native Northwest plant icon (Fir) in the title, but also appeals to the sense of color in the imagery invoked.

I like 'The Rainy Side' too....inclusive of anyone who gardens in specifically this type of climate. However, that would limit the range of readership base to the maritime section of the PNW. This title would be appropriate for all kinds of gardening, vegetable gardening, fruits and berries, not just ornamental.

Definitely do NOT go with 'Ivy and Moss' Ivy brings up visions of battles with this invasive monster that chokes out entire trees.

I thought of an additional title, since you asked for ideas, but it's kind of corny. I'll tell you anyway, at risk of sounding foolish....'The Evergreen Thumb'

I like it Maury .... it's cute but conveyz a meaning too.

Hey—thanks for weighing in! I suppose that the geographic/climate location needs to be thought about as well. I was thinking more along the lines of the "Maritime" northwest regions, which would not include the eastern sides of the states, more of the "rainy side." But I think that "Fir & Flower" as well as "The Evergreen Thumb"—which is incredibly clever by the way—are more open to going to either side of the mountains. With as "small" of a geographic location as this magazine would cover, I think it would need to start out as a quarterly publication, maybe eventually moving to something every other month. It could prove challenging to come up with content for something to be published every month.

So, to answer your question, yes, still really enjoying my "new" home in the northwest. Thought I can see myself moving on from Portland eventually and into a small town. I actually went through the PCC program, not the Mt. Hood program, though I considered their program very much. In the end, PCC was much closer to home, very important for someone without a car who relies on bike and public transit. I worked really hard and got a lot out of it. Now I need to figure out where I want to take it! I really have a passion for publication design though. This concept magazine is going to be fun to put together!

Thank you both for the input—much appreciated!

Don't worry about content. For a magazine like this, you will want to drill down into subjects & get lots of personal perspectives to set yourself apart from the generic "Make a rain garden!" crap that you can find elsewhere. (You know the articlez I'm talking about; they always end with "Be creative!"

I like "The Rainy Side" Or "On The Rainy Side", and I like your's too maury.
"West Slope"
I like your designs. Very retro or Oldtimy

The Rainy Side is already in use! http://rainyside.com/
I like Cascade Gardener.

Hi Orange! My husband and I just moved from Portland this year to Newport out on the coast. My husband was an operator for Portland Streetcar, which I'm sure you are familiar with! He was the "hippy driver" with long gray hair. As to titles, I actually respond most to "Northwest Gardener" as it is the most specific description and if I saw it sitting on the magazine shelf at the store, that is the one I would go to! But only if you truly want to focus on PNW gardening, because obviously, someone on the east coast probably wouldn't give it a glance. I like maury's "Evergreen Thumb" too as a subtitle.

"Blackberries & Broom"

Seriously, though, I think "Evergreen Thumb" is great. It communicates what the magazine is. These days, when you have approximately a nanosecond to catch someone's attention, I think any title that is too subtle is likely to lose you some potential readers.

It's also easy to remember and NOT generic (i.e. not easy to confuse with all of the "Cascade this" and "Northwest that" titles already floating around out there) -- both of which are important if you're hoping for people to mention it to friends!

Oooooohhhhh .... a new PNW member? Welcome, Michelle!

"Blackberries & Broom"; too perfect Michelle!