POPULAR MECHANICS
Print Editorial
A magazine that looks like it was built in a garage by someone who gives a damn
Sector
Entertainment • Lifestyle • Products
Concept
Legacy brands don't die from being old—they die from being polite.
Popular Mechanics needed to feel like a trusted mechanic who's also the coolest person you know. I called it "Functional Friction"—a narrative strategy where every spread became a conversation between utilitarian past and kinetic future.
The foundation was brutally honest: blueprint precision, industrial modularity, technical clarity. Then we detonated it with punk energy and chaotic rebellion. The collision told the truth about how people make things now—one hand on a wrench, one hand on a screen.
The flexible grid gave stories what they needed: breathing room, urgency, or clarity. High-end photography crashed into raw illustration to create dimensional storytelling—aspiration and accessibility in the same frame. We forced artists from different worlds to coexist, sparking visual innovation that made every spread worth slowing down for.
What Actually Changed? The magazine stopped apologizing for being a magazine.
Strategy
One strategy solved everything: make usefulness hip, make speed look intentional, and make everyone—old audience, new audience, advertisers—feel like they're part of something that matters.
Role
Associate Creative Director: Layout
LinkedIn
Info@duanebruton.com
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