It’s been a busy few weeks at Edwin Ellis with a flurry of fine publications rolling off the presses to be distributed quite literally as I type.

You probably know by now that we LOVE producing magazines, brochures and newsletters for our clients. Don’t get us wrong, we love creating digital content, too. But print’s in our DNA. After long careers getting inky fingers working on a range of leading newspapers, I guess you’d expect nothing less.

So, in addition to our headline-grabbing PR work, here’s what’s been keeping us off the streets lately in the world of design and layout.

Colmore Life magazine spring 2020

COLMORE LIFE

First up, it’s the latest edition of Colmore Life magazine produced for Colmore BID and it’s a belter.

We’ve tried to add a sprinkling of spring to the front cover circular montage (designed with the BID’s circular logo in mind).

Inside, there’s all the Business District’s movers and shakers, dining news, people and places, health and wellbeing and property announcements – with a look at the rise and rise of co-working spaces (from one of which this overview is being typed).

Hunt down a copy in a Colmore Business District bar, restaurant, office reception area, or at Snow Hill station. You can also download the digital version on the Colmore BID website.

Colmore BID ‘Progress’ Annual Report 2020

COLMORE BID ‘PROGRESS’ ANNUAL REPORT

Staying with Colmore BID and we were asked to produce its Annual Report with a brief to ‘try something different’ (we love such an instruction!)

The 12-page publication features a semi-circular die-cut front page and a showstopping skyline picture taking out three folded pages at the rear. It certainly catches the eye.

Content features all the latest initiatives the BID is leading across the District, to maintain its reputation as a great place to work, visit and invest. Read it online here.

Birmingham Business Park’s Our Community magazine

BIRMINGHAM BUSINESS PARK ‘OUR COMMUNITY’

Next up it’s Birmingham Business Park’s seasonal ‘Our Community’ magazine, which talks about the internationally-renowned companies based at the bustling Business Park along with BBP’s packed diary of wellbeing, food and charity events.

A pleasing aspect to Our Community is that the first edition was so well received we were asked to double its pagination.

Like Colmore Life, we were feeling spring-like when deciding on the cover image. Can someone tell the weather gods to keep up?

Read the digital version here.

(Footnote: We’re conscious of the environmental impact of printed products and aim to source suitably accredited paper stocks whenever possible)

That easel I bought with the intention of knocking out the odd acrylic painting during a bit of downtime? Hmmm. Still haven’t found the time.

It has been put to good use, however, to display our latest work; in this instance the latest Colmore Life magazine.

Never let it be said we don’t take pride in our work.

Proud faces all around at Edwin Ellis as the first edition of Colmore Life magazine designed and produced by yours truly is distributed across Colmore Business District, the commercial heart of Birmingham city centre.

We won a competitive tender to redesign and restructure the magazine on behalf of Colmore BID, one of the UK’s most successful Business Improvement Districts, which recently began its third term championing the area.

Our approach to the magazine was to reflect the changing nature of the District. Not only is this an area well known for housing the UK headquarters of some of the world’s most famous professional and financial services companies, but now has an emerging food, drink and independents scene. It’s fast becoming a destination in its own right.

The front-page design features a quartered montage of bright, bold images, shaped to mirror the circular design of the Colmore BID logo, perfect for the summer edition.

Colmore Life magazine’s news pages have been called The Lowdown

Editorial structure and articles are shaped to raise the profile of BID businesses, particularly in the new Movers & Shakers, Lowdown, People & Places and Property sections.

Elsewhere, food and drink is given prominence with recipes, restaurant news and four pages given over to the forthcoming Colmore Food Festival; one of the highlights in the Colmore BID calendar as it attracts more than 30,000 visitors each year.

We’ve also sourced three fantastic dining offers at Hotel du Vin, the Pint Shop and Wayland’s Yard.

The rich past of the Business District is also featured with a regular History & Heritage page.

We’ve gone for a contemporary serif typeface to use on news and features pages, to sit alongside the BID brand sans type. They complement each other really well.

Our thanks once again go to Colmore BID for giving us the opportunity to work on Colmore Life and we can’t wait to get stuck into the next edition.