GOLF RETAILING Magazine
2013 - 2017
During my time at Swink Media, in 2013 I was heavily involved in a major diversification of the business into publishing for the sports retailing industry (before this time the business portfolio was entirely products connected to Comms Business Magazine, working within the telecoms industry).
From 2013-2017 I worked on the launch and subsequent issues of GOLF RETAILING magazine. I was the sole designer responsible for creating the initial branding, monthly production of the print and digital magazines, and associated marketing material.
My involvement included working closely with the editorial and advertising sales teams to produce the design of all editorial, news and feature pages (this was between 50 - 70 pages per monthly issue) as well sourcing and creating appropriate imagery.
I also liaised directly with advertisers and external printers to ensure each issue was delivered to deadline to be delivered to our 20,000 subscribers.
This was an exciting time for me as I had never worked on the launch of a magazine before but in the early days it was challenging (the first issue in particular had issues with the editorial which mean’t we finally sent it to print at 2am on deadline day).
In 2015 the team’s hard work was rewarded by winning the Periodical Publishers Association (PPA) Award for Magazine Launch/Relaunch of the Year.
In an official statement the PPA commented ‘This is an impressive publishing effort, combining both print and online channels to great effect. The judges praised Swink Media for truly innovating in this sector, describing GOLF RETAILING as a great breakthrough which is totally right for its market. A very deserving winner in this category’.
Publisher, Miles Bossom commented at the time, ‘When we launched GOLF RETAILING we set out to raise the bar and deliver a magazine which was of real use to our readers. We invested heavily and worked extremely hard and I am extremely proud of our achievements. This award demonstrates our efforts have been worthwhile and solidifies our position as the market leading, now award winning magazine for the golf trade’.
CYCLE TRADE Magazine
2014 - 2016
In 2015, Swink Media launched a sister monthly publication for the cycling industry, CYCLE TRADE magazine. This was produced by the same team and reused some of the same principles in terms of design and content as GOLF RETAILING, again I led on the design.
The branding was designed to be much bolder to reflect the younger, less conservative audience of cycling, with a bolder colour palette to evoke the colour of cycling team jerseys, and have a slightly European feel. A range of bright blues was used primarily, with a contrasting orange as an occasional accent colour.
At the time another publisher had a near monopoly of the cycling industry, so the brand was designed to be loud and brash to gain attention from a magazine that had perhaps become a little too comfortable and safe.
Alongside the simple logo type, a cycling based logo mark was created to be used as a design element throughout the publication and associated marketing material.
A range of print and online adverts produced for the launch of the magazine. The general theme was that change was needed and that new competition for advertising and readers would overall improve the quality of coverage for the industry as a whole.
