Plaster Magazine

Plaster‘s digital platform launched in 2023, offering a dynamic mix of features, interviews, reviews and guides, focusing on art and its intersections with fashion, music, film and beyond.

My role was to lead the web and assist in the email campaign side of the project. Following the branding redesign by Josh Crumpler and James Willshire, I worked with the team to transition Plaster from primarily print to digital. As a result, Plaster has grown enormously over the past 12 months, solidifying itself as a new voice in contemporary art and culture.

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Research

The Competitor Matrix
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Given the complete overhaul of Plaster’s offering, and change in brand, intense research was needed to establish exactly the market we were planning on occupying.The art sector naturally has a huge variance in styles, attitudes, level of perceived professionalism, and so on.

Plaster’s needs as a company were that of a newly growing one.To establish our competitors, I worked with the Plaster team to create a map of relevant competitors, on what I call the “Competitor Matrix”. All types of names are plotted on this, including ones we know for certain do not match Plaster’s ethos, this is to make clear comparisons between what Plaster should and should not be.

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Research & Matrix Results

Following the research and matrix results, competitors and web influences were clearly defined. We would then use these and constantly check back on them to inform the wireframe and UI stage.

If it’s found later on that some of these names are no longer relevant, something which happens a lot given the fast-paced movement of the art sector, then the process sarts again, in a more concise manner, to reestablish the results.

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Top ranked collectively by client and design team

1st. Sixteen.world

Noted for its use of black/white
and layouts

2nd. AssemblePapers

Noted for its typography usage

3rd. Purple Magazine

Noted as being a major competitor

Honourable Mentions:
GANNI, Little Troop, Self Service Magazine

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Sitemap

At the same time as this happening, the sitemap is built, using Octopus.do.

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Wireframe Progression

Our goal was to launch the site as soon as possible and provide a framework for expansion, so we used the wireframe section to really narrow down the types of blocks we would need, saving on valuable build time.

Fortunately, we could jump straight past low-fidelity wires and work with the team on structural mid-to high-fidelity wires because of the site's relative ease of use as an editorial platform.

While it was tempting to jam as many features as possible into the wireframe at the outset, our prior research revealed that competitors frequently prioritised information architecture over UX and UI elements.

As a result, after a few rounds, we had a collection of streamlined wireframes to take us into the user interface.

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“The Art Newsletter That Won’t Hurt Your Head”

The Plaster Magazine Newsletter is a weekly email series that captures the essence of contemporary art, film, industry gossip and culture.

Key series include artist interviews, providing insights into the creative processes of figures like Roe Ethridge; opinion pieces on art trends, such as the rise of "Gorecore"; and event coverage, highlighting significant exhibitions and art scene happenings.

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The newsletter, created with Mailchimp and expanded over a year, aims to provide a platform for displaying articles, CTAs, products, write-ups, and short, digestible updates. Our design approach has enabled Plaster to maintain a consistent and identifiable brand identity while engaging its audience on a weekly basis.

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66.2%
Average open rate over the last 3 months

8.6% (up 22%)
Average click rate over the last 3 months

+6.5%
Average increase in new subscribers every month

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