Where is all the good news? It’s a question I ask myself a lot when I scan the news lately. And I’m not alone.
A new magazine called For has just launched, and it offers a collection of stories from around the world of people truly making a difference, according to Eillie Anzilotti in Fast Company. She explains that each issue will focus on a particular theme – the inaugural issue centering on aging and maturing.
“It’s something that nobody wants to think about or talk about, but it’s something that we’re all dealing with–we’re all getting older,” said Patrick Durgin-Bruce, creative director and cofounder at Ultravirgo, the design and branding studio that conceived of and produced the publication, to Anzilotti. “We’re trying to deal with these bigger issues in a really personal, relatable way through these stories of people who are using their experiences in life to do good for others.”
Durgin-Bruce explained to Anzilotti that, as a design agency that works the United Nations and other NGOs, they hear “all these amazing stories of people doing things in the far reaches of the world, but nobody is really collecting these stories in a way that people can easily find.”
“It’s equal parts businesses and wanting to improve the world,” Durgin-Bruce says.
“The publication, he hopes, will bring more humanitarian clients in need of branding help to the studio, and will also encourage readers to think more broadly about how to relate to others in the world,” Anzilotti explains. “For the project, Ultravirgo received some funding from the Knight Foundation, and while the studio does not anticipate the magazine will be a moneymaker, they do hope that they’re able to sustain the publication.”
Durgin-Bruce explained that, as designers, he and co-founder Elizabeth Durgin-Bruce “naturally gravitated toward the print magazine format. While the Ultravirgo team took on the design and production of the magazine as an in-house side project, they worked with a team of freelance writers and photographers around the world, who documented stories from their own countries,” Anzilotti explains. The stories are published in the writer’s original language, with an English translation next to it.
Plans at this stage are to publish once or twice a year, and the first issue is selling for $20 — a hefty price, but not out of line with the new book-style magazines that are increasingly popular today.
Where’s the good news? Apparently, it’s in print. Grab a copy and support this great idea.