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The next chapter of music journalism
The
next
chapter
of
music journalism
Wax Poetics has been a household name among the
world's music enthusiasts since its launch in 2000.
Originally a bi-annual magazine they are well known
for their world-class music journalism. Digging deeper
and exploring stories about the music trailblazers,
cultures, and movements.
After repositioning in 2019, they approached us to
refresh their identity and develop a unique online
platform aimed at vitalising their readership and
bringing something unique to the world music
community.
An analog system for a digital world
Their previous identity was centred around a confident and
timeless wordmark but lacked a recognisable system and the
unique attitude found in their writing. After workshopping with the
founders, we got experimental with their desire to keep that gritty
analogue feel, creating a ‘lived in and earthy feel’ matching their
original magazines textured feel and off white colours. We
wanted to pay homage to unique details that real music fans
would recognise.
Speaking the fans language
We ensembled a neutral palette that was inspired by the colors of
worn records. Twinning them with an extensive vintage secondary
suite that was inspired by a wide breadth of record genres.
To get that analog feel, we harnessed real grit and paper textures
from scanned old records and sleeves. Accompanied by some
hand-drawn notations, referencing those infamous editor's
markups and irritation record scratches.
We created a new type system, pairing a super punchy grotesque
headline font with an elegant serif for legibility and sophistication.
Striking that balance between character and timelessness.
The
new
cohesive
identity
allowed
them
to
raise
over
110k
on
Kickstarter
and
re-ignite
the
next
chapter
of
Wax
Poetics.
Creating a timeless platform
Featuring 400+ articles from the past 20 years of Wax Poetics,
alongside mixes, albums, a collection of fresh pieces, and brand
new weekly content drops from the world’s leading music writers.
This was a big undertaking to create a beautiful and functional
platform that can stand the test of time.
We worked closely with the client and the editorial team to nail
down their content streams. Separating out the content into
some ‘key channels’ and creating a smooth subscription flow.
We wanted to bring that analog thinking into the design,
therefore the layout has a very editorial masthead feel, with
wide-set type headlines and diverse content blocks putting the
stories first.
Articles and content
With most articles being over 1000 words, we needed a really
tight type hierarchy and varied components to make each read
seamless. By creating a chaptering system and analog page turn
- users can navigate long-form articles smoothly.
Rediscovery
One unique piece of content ‘Re:Discovery’ , reviews of old,
unknown, and rare albums. We created a unique experience to
‘dig’ through these, re-creating that infamous record store
experience.
It's not every day you get to building a music platform with such a rich heritage.
The Wax Poetics relaunch has so far onboarded over
2,000 subscribers, creating a newly revived
community that can read, listen, watch and discover
with like-minded music fans from across the world.
We continue to work with the Wax Poetics team to evolve the
platform and brand, check back for updates. A massive thanks to
Dave, Alex, Brian, and the Wax Poetics team.
