We Make Mags

aurora is back, brighter than ever. The sun seemed to have gone down on the compact and covetable in-flight magazine that we at CMYK produced for Highland Airways, when the airline itself ceased trading this year, battered by blizzards and volcanic ash clouds. But we are delighted that aurora has risen again, this time as a customer magazine for Highlands & Islands Airports. It’s on display at the company’s 11 airports, ranging from bustling Inverness to the achingly beautiful beach airport on Barra. Look out for it and help yourself to a copy if you’re flying from any HIA airport. Our summer issue has an insider’s view of the Western Isles, an interview with songstress and DJ Cerys Matthews, a piece on superfoods that won’t break the bank and much more besides.

Earlier in the year, I stopped making mags for a while in order to take a holiday in New York.

All went splendidly – we stayed in a lovely place in Brooklyn, saw all the major sights and quite a few minor ones too. It was about time to come home and make some more mags when, all of a sudden, Iceland blew up. Didn’t see that one coming.

Filling our time with whatever we could find that didn’t cost money and thankful that, in spite of a raised eyebrow while we were packing, my macbook had made it into the hand luggage, we resigned ourselves to an extra week on holiday (I can almost feel your sympathy beaming through the internet…). During one afternoon of blog browsing, I noticed this call to action on Andrew Losowsky’s Magtastic Blogsplosion website.

This is an open call to designers, writers, photographers, illustrators, art directors and anyone else who is stranded by the ash cloud, and would like something to do.

If there’s one thing my ol’ ma taught me, it’s that when life gives you volcanoes, make magazines. And so we shall.

If you’re out there and interested, email me and tell me what you do. I’ll then give you an assignment to complete today/tomorrow. Depending on how long this thing lasts, we’ll work the rest of it out from there. The copyright will remain yours on anything you produce, I just ask for permission to include it in the currently-untitled ashcloud magazine (working titles include Grounded, SkyFail and Someday We’ll Fly Away.)

If you’d like to be a part of the core creative team who will put together this impromptu publication, let me know as well. The only criterion for any contributor is that, like me, you have to be stuck somewhere unintentionally.

If all goes well, the results will be published, probably via MagCloud and/or the Newspaper Club, and any proceeds sent to a charity that helps mitigate the effects of climate change on human populations. After all, we have to repent somehow.

Who’s in?

Continue reading ‘Stranded magazine’

After five years at CMYK our advertising manager Kirsti Thomson is leaving for a new challenge. Having poached her from Wyvex Media all those years ago, Kirsti proved a driving force behind Scotland in Trust, the membership magazine we produce on behalf of the National Trust for Scotland. Continue reading ‘Situations vacant’

Here at CMYK Towers we have been busy. And I mean really busy. Over the past week 4 magazines have gone to press and the biggest of these is Surgeons’ News magazine, which we have redesigned for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. Continue reading ‘Surgeons’ News redesign’

And so the sun sets on aurora magazine, our inflight magazine for Highland Airways. With the airline in administration, all flights cancelled and aircraft grounded, it seems certain that a rescue at this stage is impossible. We knew the company was in trouble, but rumours of a new investor seem unfounded. Continue reading ‘Au revoir to aurora?’

Here at CMYK towers, we’ve just taken delivery of our newest title for the MDDUS. Called Practice Manager, it’s a 16 page magazine for those who run medical or dental practices in Scotland. We do the design and also handle the print and distribution side of things.

I’m pleased to say it’s the first of three titles which the MDDUS will be launching with CMYK over the next few months so watch this space for more details!

Part of the motivation for launching this title was the success of FYi which we launched for the MDDUS last year. This title was very well received and also made it to the shortlist for best magazine design in the business & professional category at this year’s PPA Scotland awards.

These titles also demonstrate a clear understanding on the part of the MDDUS of how to implement the magazine as a marketing tool. By giving away genuinely useful expertise and insight in these titles, they have the reader’s full attention and can make a persuasive argument for becoming a member.

When we get busy, wemakemags gets quiet I’m afraid. Happily that means we’re up to our eyes in new work.

Things that have been keeping us busy have included getting aurora magazine to issue two and tending to the needs of our first public sector client, the Scottish Prison Service. The SPS’s decision to work with CMYK Design is a fantastic vote of confidence both in the quality of our work and in our ability to deliver it. It’s also a major success for us as a small company. Anyone who has been involved in the tendering process for public bodies will attest it can be some of the hardest-won work there is.

Forgive us, then for blowing our own trumpet!

With all this talk of magazines closing, it’s about time we told you about our new (glossy) project, which launches today. Aurora – the inflight magazine for Highland Airways – is now officially out and available on scheduled and charter flights from the company.

CMYK Design create editorial content, commission photography and illustrations, sell advertising space in the title and handle print and distribution. It’s fantastic to be involved in a magazine like this – and we expect the magazine to go from strength to strength.

Highland Airways has asked CMYK Design to publish a new quarterly inflight magazine for their passenger routes, starting in spring 2009. CMYK will create all editorial content and also sell advertising space for the magazine which will go under the name aurora. At 52 pages, the magazine will cover lifestyle, city focus features, wealth management, sport and health matters, along with profiles and Highland Airways news content.

Continue reading ‘Highland Airways launches new inflight magazine’

I’ve posted a cover from the now defunct 19 magazine today. It was this cover that got me started in this whole business really. Continue reading ‘Teen Mags’