Brownbook Magazine

TSDA founder, Jack Thomas Taylor, served as a producer of content for the arts and culture publication, Brownbook. The publisher focused on the region’s urban evolution with the publication of a bi-monthly guide to contemporary society in the Middle East and North Africa with the main aim of challenging people’s views of the Middle East.

Leading over 100 content-focused print and digital projects each year, valued annually at over $2 million, it was Jack’s  responsibility to successfully project manage the special projects that were published. As the sole Special Projects Manager with the remit of looking after the editorial and design for projects sponsored by Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, The Executive Office, Expo 2020, Dubai Tourism Authority, Cartier, Hong Kong Tourism, Singapore Tourism, HSBC, Porsche, Mercedes, MINI, Mont Blanc, and Van Cleef & Arpels, his input was valuable.

The projects were varied but would stem from the narratives explored in Brownbook and its editorial philosophy. Jack’s role meant he had to use his editorial skills to ensure the content was politically neutral and culturally savvy allowing for conversations to be broached and discussed in a broader way, thus challenging sensitivities in a progressive way. It was key in this role to communicate with a positive rhetoric, advocate for tolerance, and encourage creativity.

The special projects that he published were physical events, bound-in booklets, videos, digital activations and social media campaigns focused on the lesser-seen aspects of the Middle East—both home and away—from Syrian communities in Sweden to snow on the Saudi mountains. He was responsible for the whole process from story generation, commissioning writers, photographers, illustrators etc., right through to liaising with printers and distributors. Jack was also the writer and project manager for ten Arab city guides.