MAGAZINES & BROCHURES
Our passion for exceptional design will ensure your publication stands out against the rest, but beautiful or striking aesthetics alone don’t make for a great and lasting magazine. You need the experience and vision that our team has to see a product grow from a stand alone item to an international best-selling name or a successful marketing tool – and you need the drive and passion we also have to take it there.
Over the past 25 years, our creative director Lyssa has designed and art directed hundreds of leading national and international publications, in the arts, design, lifestyle, luxury, travel, extreme sports, property, finance, charity, law, retail, public sector, and children’s book industries. Some can be seen in the case studies below and covers above. She also founded and ran her own arts and lifestyle publication in 2010, which was widely regarded at the time as being the most exciting magazine to ever come out of Brighton. So it’s safe to say that Lyssa, and the rest of the team here can handle any kind of publication, for any kind of industry, or audience. And if you have something in mind that is wildy different from anything we’ve listed above, we will only be thoroughly excited to take that on.
At PAPERWORKS we oversee and manage the entire process of a publication’s life. From the development of the concept, to creation of the brand, to the design of the pages from cover to cover – all through the print production process, and of course the publishing of the digital files too. And, our editors and writers will handle any of the content that you can’t, or would just rather not. They too have led big international titles for huge publishling names such as Emap, Ziff Davis and Forward publishing – for decades. So we really do all have tremendous experience in the industry, and can whip up a content list or flat plan quicker than you can say, “What the hell is a flat plan?”. And when it comes to pulling in talent for things like photoshoots, styling, illustrators and specialist writers, we have a pool of top level creatives at our fingertips that we work with on a regular basis, so no need to worry about those things either.
If you already have an idea for a publication or some form of contract publishing to help promote your brand, or you have an existing title and you need good direction to help you take it to the next level, please get in touch. We will work with you to refine your existing title, or new project, and help you to produce an outstanding product. If you’re just browsing – check out some of our case studies below, and let us know if you get inspired. We’d love to hear your thoughts. And when you’re ready to chat, ping us an email.
Case Study: The Sybarite Magazine
Lyssa was recently hired to art direct, design and help to editorially manage the first six issues of this brand new international, contemporary, luxury, lifestyle publication. The Sybarite is a high-end glossy publication for a global audience after a high-end curated lifestyle, featuring stunning travel destinations, interviews with entrepeneurs, and features on where best to dine, stay and shop.
Lyssa’s thoughts on the project: “The aesthetic here is timeless, clean, and minimal, allowing the stunning photography to have its own moment while keeping mindful of the typography, which also had to shine. So in turn that has a beautiful contempoary elegance to it. Highlights of each issue for me were the breathtaking travel images, the seasonal magazine design references, and the fashion collages that I curated and designed. I love the chance to get creative on a page and fashion and product pages always allow for a bit of an unexpected pop-out moment”.
Client’s thoughts – “As Deputy Editor of The Sybarite it was an absolute joy to work with Lyssa. She completely encapsulated our vision of the magazine and brought our ideas to life with really slick and beautiful design, and really thoughtful art direction overall. Beyond this, she is incredibly hardworking, and an amazing problem-solver coming up with creative and innovative solutions throughout the magazine creation process. We absolutely recommend Lyssa, for any magazine design or production work – and any design, really.”
Olivia Bennett, Deputy Editor, The Sybarite Magazine
Case Study: BookBrunch Magazine
At the beginning of the year we were hired to produce a special one-off magazine for the BookBrunch, Bologna Children’s Book Fair and BolognaBookPlus collaboration, for the 2025 four day book publishing event in Italy. It was an unusual dual-sided and flip-over production with two covers and two magazines in one, and was packed tightly with interviews with book industry experts, stunning illustrations, and all sorts of other important book industry news.
Case Study: PRO ARB Magazine
A busy publishing company in Sussex that produce several B2B publications and events in the horticulture industry hired us to lead the design and re-brand of three of their publications, and their supplements, as well as the copany’s largest biannual event, FUTURESCAPE Landscaping Exhibiton.
Case Study: Kiteworld magazine + The Kite Show
Lyssa art directed and designed Kiteworld, the biggest-selling kitesurfing publication in the world, between issues 31 and 76, working with some of the globe’s best extreme sports photographers, feature writers and sports people. With over 150 pages, six times a year for eight years – that’s a lot of pages… She also managed the rest of the design for the magazine’s publishing brand, 328 Media, for The Kite Show (Kiteworld’s spin-off TV show), for the other publishing projects such as the annual travel guide and other supplements, and one or two other extreme sports magazines trialled and supported by the company too.
Lyssa’s thoughts on the project: “This truly was such a fantastic role for me, as it merged my two great passions at the time which were fine art and graphic design. Kiteworld was all about freedom and expresssion in the sport of kitesurfing, and virtually all of the features in the magazine were art-led, meaning I got license to go with my intuition on the design – and working closely with Jim, the editor, who in turn gave me that freedom, was a real gift. He went on to became a great mentor for me in publishing, and championed me throughout my time running my own magazine too”.
Client’s thoughts: “ I worked really closely with Lyssa for nearly a decade, on over 50 issues of Kiteworld magazine, as well as our supplements, spin-off projects, and a couple of other magazines along the way too. Some editions exceeded 250 pages, so as an editor, working alongside an ambitious art director with an eye for details and total commitment to the various challenges of print deadlines, made her an invaluable partner to manage heavy workloads with.
Lyssa’s drive to develop her all round expertise for publishing work go beyond her technical skills. I always appreciated her ability to create engaging and thoughtful design work no matter how many features we had to manage. Her love of colour, typography, and playing with composition on a page really shone, and her ability to bring our photographers’ work to life with her magic touch was second-to-none. Always being careful to balance the playful and vibrant aesthetics required on Kiteworld, with readability which is obviously vital on any publication. Our advertisers were always thrilled with her careful management of their brand identity in any designs she made on their behalf, too. And I continue to admire her work in the projects Lyssa has produced since our time working together.”
Jim Gaunt, Publisher & Editor, Kiteworld Magazine and MD and Presenter of The Kite Show
Case Study: Eden Rivers Trust: Special Edition
We were hired to design and produce the special edition brochure for Eden Rivers Trust. We created a beautiful 46 page magazine with silver foil on the cover to mark the 25th anniversary of the trust. It was a delight to work with team at Eden Rivers and an even bigger delight to produce a product with such fascinating subject matters.
Case Study: Police magazine
We were thrilled to be asked to lead the creative at Police magazine – and to be working alongside the lovely marketing team at the Police Federation of England and Wales on a bi-monthly basis. And here at PAPERWORKS, we couldn’t be happier with what the Head of Marketing had at the Federation had to say after us taking over the design of the magazine:
Client’s thoughts: “I’m in awe of Lyssa’s design work. This is the best the magazine has looked in all the time I’ve been here.”
Martin Buhagiar, Head of Communications, The Police Federation of England and Wales
Lyssa on the project: “It’s really refreshing to be working on a publication where the news and information being delivered is so much more important than the creative, or trying to be impressive with the visual aspects. In this case I do my best to showcase the editorial in a clear, succinct, meaningful – and also where needed – impactful and powerful way.
Case Study: Silver Magazine
We branded, art directed and designed this new 100+ page publication, brought to the 50s-plus market. The client wanted something edgy and contemporary, to reflect the nature of the content and the brand’s ethos – that being over 50 doesn’t mean being dull or safe anymore, and that life in fact, “begins at fifty” these days.
Lyssa on the project: “I was excited to design Silver. I saw it as a completely natural and simple step from designing my own publication, Pretty Litter magazine – which had a very similar ethos and voice. Silver was fun, loud, and it had attitude but in a respectful way. Sort of grown up punk. Which worked as that was absolutely the audience”.
Client’s thoughts: “I can vouch heartily for Lyssa – she’s not only an excellent designer, she’s extraordinarily hardworking and always looking for ways to make her design really special”
Sam Harrington-Lowe, MD & Publisher, Title Media
SOME MORE OF WHAT WE DO. . .
CONTRACT PUBLISHING – The Police Federation of England and Wales
SPECIAL ONE-OFF BROCHURES – Eden Rivers Trust
UNUSUAL PROMOTIONAL FLYERS – Snowcamp Charity
STRIKING COVERS & CLEAR BRANDING – Silver Magazine
FESTIVAL & EVENT DESIGN / MATERIALS – Armada Kitesurfing Festival
INTERESTING FEATURE LAYOUTS – The Sybarite Magazine
“We have worked with Lyssa for many years. She has created a huge range of assets for us, everything from print and digital brochures, to advertising, as well as managing the design for our large scale events for our various brands we have had over the years. If you’re looking for a highly creative and innovative mind, and someone really lovely to work with, we highly recommend Lyssa!”
Anna Hinks, Head of Marketing, Armada Festival and Snow-Camp charity
Our Process
1.
A simple chat
Get in touch with us and we’ll see if we can help. There’ll be no pressure from us at all. Just a friendly conversation to see if your needs align with our experience and skills.
2.
You imagine, we plan
If you decide you’d like to work with us, we’ll have a longer conversation to establish the project’s needs. We’ll then draw up a proposal for you, and you can pick from a list of ideas we have which we’ll use to tailor a quote and project plan completely to suit you.
3.
Create
This is where you can leave the hard work to us. You can be involved as little or as much as you’d like and we’ll always include you in any major decisions so you’ll never be in the dark.
4.
And breathe…
Now all you need to do is admire your shiny (or matte) new product, and share it with the world…
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