Baber Smith vision for Design Council magazine

Baber Smith has been appointed to redesign the Design Council’s “I” magazine, to make it more consumer-friendly and visually led.

It won a four-way pitch against unnamed consultancies. Frost Design, which was appointed to launch the magazine in 1999 declined to re-pitch.

The magazine is changing from a thin portrait format to A4 to “make it look less like a corporate brochure”, says Baber Smith designer Justin Morgan.

He says the magazine will retain the same typefaces, Quay and Foundry, and its masthead will be shortened to make it clearer.

According to editor Jan Dekker, content will be similar to its existing format, which aims to keep the industry up-to-date with Design Council initiatives. He says he is hoping to make the news section clearer and include more illustrations and photography to appeal to its core readership, which is representatives from business, education and Government.

The magazine will come out three times a year, in February, May and September to cover Design Council initiatives such as Design in Education week.