In Focus

2019

Designed by Brian Byrne at Lands

Printing: Doggett Print

Categories: Print / Publication

Industry: Charitable

In Focus is Focus Ireland’s national newsletter. The magazine includes articles, poetry, stories and photography submitted by customers and staff members. Since its inception, the magazine’s popularity had declined a little, and Focus staff decided that a change was needed. We were approached in early 2019 to redesign the magazine and increase user engagement.

After our review, we decided to focus founder, Sr Stanislaus' original concept for the magazine—to celebrate the lives of people who are helped by Focus Ireland. We thought a fitting way to convey this idea was to employ an illustrative style using bright, vibrant colours. We proposed that each article would feature an original illustration rather than using stock imagery. Every edition would also have an accompanying poster featuring a customer story and illustration taken from the magazine. These posters would be used to promote the new magazine in Focus Ireland centres around the country. We also proposed that a digital version of the magazine should be available to download from the Focus Ireland website. We designed a page grid that provides consistency and coherence in terms of layout and structure but also flexible enough to add variety in upcoming issues.