Wax Poetics approached us to refresh their identity and develop a unique online platform – aimed at vitalising their readership
Wax Poetics has been a household name amongst world-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.
An analogue 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.
A new brand identity that speaks the language of the music fans
Every brand element was carefully considered and took into consideration Wax Poetic’s long standing dedication to the music industry. We wanted to bring that analog thinking into the design, therefore the layout has been designed with a very editorial masthead feel, with wide-set type headlines and diverse content blocks putting the stories first. We assembled a neutral colour palette that was inspired by the colours of worn records. Twinning them with an extensive vintage secondary suite that was inspired by a wide breadth of record genres. And 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.
Bringing in the analogue into the digital
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.
Creating a timeless and well functioning 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.
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.
Taking inspiration from the record store experiences, we created ‘Re:Discovery’, a space in which unique pieces of content – reviews of old, unknown, and rare albums – can live and be enjoyed again. We created a unique experience to ‘dig’ through these, re-creating that infamous record store experience.
Solid change starts here
Contact us and let's get started.
