I never read. I just look at pictures…

…is something the Picture Desk team and Andy Warhol (sort of) have in common.

As picture editors, we of course have to, and might I add – enjoy to, read the stories that land on our desks. But our thing, just like Warhol, is pictures. And since I’m no wordsmith, I’ll keep this short!

We’re fortunate to work with some fantastic photographers and want to show them off. So here’s a sneak preview of some of next month’s commissions from the London office…

Ben Quinton went to Florence’s Botanical Gardens for Ronda.

Josh Shinner photographed Petitie Meller, Spector, Andreya Triana, Twin Atlantic, Kwabs and Gaz Coombes for easyJet Traveller’s Sounds of Summer feature.

Greg Funnell made the most of the extra hour of daylight in Mexico for Thomas Cook Travel.

And finally, our resident photographer Tim E. White braved the bright lights of Las Vegas and LA for n by Norwegian’s neon cover story.

(Posted by Julia Holmes)

New Year, 3(!) new mags

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)