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.

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.

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.

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.

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.