Alef Magazine
Arts, Culture, and Creativity
2014
In 2014, TSDA founded the first English and Arabic independently published arts and culture magazine focused on Arab cultural topics such as visual art, artistic performance, cultural dialogue, history, geography, biography, cross-cultural connections, and trends. Endorsed with a written foreword by Her Highness Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Alef concentrated on art and cultural topics from the Gulf region. It was launched in July 2013, at the Serpentine Gallery in London, on the last day of the Mayor of London’s Shubbak Festival, a 3-week-long Arab contemporary art fair.
Client:
Firefly Communications
Services:
Ideation, creative direction, strategy, editorial, project management, launch.
Credits:
Visual identity: Anis Bengiuma
Iconography: Aziza Iqbal
Image credits:
Public Domain/Fair Use
As the founder and editor-in-chief of Alef, Jack was responsible for every aspect of the magazine’s existence. From editorial to design, advertising sales, the launch, hiring of team members, and developing relationships with key stakeholders, every aspect of the magazine’s development and implementation (founding and ongoing) was all part of his purview.
The magazine was inaugurated with a launch at the Serpentine Gallery in London, as part of the Qatar-UK 2013 Year of Culture in partnership with Qatar Museums, and was available on the global newsstand and in independent newsagents around the world; reaching its target audience through retail, subscription, and strategic partnerships. The editorial aimed to inform residents and visitors from all walks of life, through positive and non-political stories of lasting educational value, about aspects of the Arab and Muslim world, the arts, history, geography, biography, cross-cultural connections, and trends.
Under Jack’s directorship and editorship, efforts were spearheaded to generate brand awareness and impact whilst reaching the target audience through retail, subscription, and strategic partnerships. The magazine’s main goal was to promote the cultural and creative economy of the region and, while doing so, break down stereotypes and misconceptions of the Arab world.
As the magazine’s founder, Jack had the opportunity to hand pick the design team to bring his vision to life. He worked with Anis Bengiuma and Aziza Iqbal to conceive an identity that would be culturally rooted. The symbol represents the first alphabet of both languages. It uses the vertical form of the Arabic alphabet to further enforce the idea of a dual language brand mark and cover masthead. This core idea of integrating two completely different languages follows throughout the magazine. It uses a flexible grid system that allows both languages to coexist on the same spread without duplicating image content, and articles can be initially written in either language.
Alef magazine was designed to allow readers and writers to have richer and more engaging content by using a simplified way to navigate the magazine and dividing it into five senses, illustrated by pictograms relevant to the region and inspired by the local textile (Sadu) patterns.