Initially this ‘what if’ project was an experiment to see what would happen were the visual context of local crime rag, The Digger, changed—and what would that might look like. To begin with I explored hand-generated techniques for collaging the articles (see below), which leaned towards aesthetics found in some alternative nineties music culture magazines, such as Blah Blah Blah. Noticing quickly that a purely aesthetic approach wasn’t all that valuable, I began looking at magazine covers for fashion and culture. Using the basic fingerprint of some common magazines, I found that altering and subverting their recognisable identities into new forms of The Digger—paired with the off the cuff and sometimes amusing headlines—there is a drastic change in the relationship the viewer has with the content. Overall, I thought the experiment was an interesting insight into how graphic design can often legitimise and influence how news and published media is
perceived.
