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Also launched by Ink in January is the sister publication to Ronda (see previous post), which is Excelente, a title produced for Iberia’s first- and business-class cabins. It’s slightly larger in format than Ronda and slimmer, but with a heavy matt paper stock. The gorgeous cover is also matt with the cover line and airline logo printed in spot UV only – you don’t get the full effect in the image below, but the spot UV lettering only becomes properly visible when it catches the light.
The first part of the magazine is a series of departments – art, gastronomy, watches, cars, wine, fashion, men’s style – each curated by a respected Spanish name in that particular field.
There are also a couple of franchise departments: one is a straightforward Q&A with a company CEO called ‘Breakfast with…’, the other is a forensic photo-from-above of a craftperson’s cluttered desk, which offers an insight into that person’s way of working and some of their inspirations.
The second part of the magazine is a feature well distinguished by parred-back, elegant design with some gorgeous photography. Stories in the first issue celebrate the glamour of 1950s Rio, profile Mexican chef Enrique Olvera as he launches new New York restaurant Cosme, document an underwater art installation in the making in Lanzarote and tell the story of the search for long-lost recordings of the voice of Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca.
The very last page is a playful riff on the cover ‘deconstructed’ – in this case the ingredients for the perfect caipirinha.
Put together by editor Jesus Huarte and art director Antonio Galvez, Excelente is a real class act. See the rest of the magazine here. (Posted by AndrewH)
A busy start to the year for Ink as we launch not one, not two, but three new titles. Onboard in January 2015 are the inaugural Ink versions of Ronda and Excelente for Iberia, as well as American Way for American Airlines. (Next month we add American Airlines’ Nexos to that list and in March American Airlines’ Celebrated Living.)
I’ll post pages from Excelente and American Way in the coming days but we’ll kick off with Ronda. The brief was to produce a magazine that reflected the changes Iberia itself is currently undergoing as the airline looks to reinvent itself for the 21st century. The magazine had to be warm, bright, people oriented, reflect the values and characteristics of modern Spain and Spanishness, and – of course – sync in with the company’s new brand identity.
The idea is that each month the magazine will be brought from a different city – members of the editorial team will relocate to put the issue together, exploring the city through its people. It’s not a wholly original idea – Boat magazine, which is a favourite read, does this – but it seems a particularly good fit for an airline magazine. Another inspiration is the highly addictive website Humans of New York.
The January 2015 issue comes to you from Madrid. A no-brainer as it’s where the airline is based and where most of our editorial team lived until recently. Original concepts had a madrileño holding a ‘Welcome to Madrid’ sign but in the end we went for something more closely aligned to the company’s current marketing collateral, which makes use of naturalistically ‘unposed’ people and sunbursts.
The first spread (plus a page) is Tribes, which in this case is cyclists, celebrating the fact Madrid recently initiated a public cycle scheme.
The second story is an encounter with two heavy rocking brothers who spend a part of every day just hanging out on the Gran Via.
There’s the editors’ pick of Madrid must-buys …
… and the editors’ (and art director’s) own city highlights.
There’s a spread that visits the home of a local – in this case, a lady who lives in Madrid’s landmark tubular White Tower – …
… a story about a local entrepreneur whose business is in transforming plastic trash into fashionable streetwear …
… interviews with local musicians about where in Madrid they draw their inspiration …
… and a portrait of the regulars at one of the current hottest nightspots in town.
The issue is rounded out by a further four features that leave Madrid behind and alight in El Salvador, Marrakech, ballet schools in Moscow and Brazil, and a bunch of worldwide traffic jams.
To see the complete issue, go here. Next month: Buenos Aires. (Posted by AndrewH)