2012 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

Our objectives were: to create a magazine that is visually outstanding and appealing, while also pushing the limits and challenging the market, maintaining an international design standard, introduce a new concept to the market, showcase our capabilities, and encourage local and international talent to take part in a community driven project. The challenges were: to achieve our objectives with our small team, and without the help of a publishing house, as well as introduce quint magazine to a market that is difficult to enter.

The Brief

quint magazine is an initiative taken by quint design studio to promote ourselves by providing a platform for talent and creativity. As a start-up design studio, we wanted to showcase our capabilities without limiting ourselves to work we did for clients. So we created quint magazine, which gave us creative freedom and a regular means of communication with local and international design communities. We realised a gap in the market; other magazines only targeted a niche group or weren't accessible to everyone. There was a need for a creative publication which would allow open contribution and encourage up-and-coming talent.

How the final design was conceived

We make sure all the content is original and held to a high standard of quality. Every article of the magazine has to be an artwork in and of itself (no templates used). We went back to the roots of publishing and used typography as a key element with articles and the cover. We wanted to make sure the magazine stands out amongst other publications, so one of the main design solutions was to go for a minimalistic typography based cover design: no photography, no headlines, only the name of the magazine, and a typographical treatment of the issue number.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

The first 5 issues of the magazine were online. It became really popular, with people in over 80 countries reading it. That pushed us to the next level - going to print. The magazine is now monthly, free in all it's forms, 10000 circulation, distributed in over 2000 locations in the UAE, won 2 design awards in less than a year, created an online community of over 2000 people, signed partnerships with international brands such as Virgin Megastores and MINI, attracted big names in advertising (i.e. Cadillac, Samsung, Perrier), and made a name for itself in the UAE and abroad.