Directing an award-winning design magazine

Azure Magazine
Art Direction

Continued Partners

Launched in Toronto in 1985, Azure is an award-winning magazine with a focus on contemporary architecture and design. Having already collaborated with Frontier on the AZ Awards for many years, its leadership engaged us as art director for their print magazine for four issues.

Integrated Process

Working collaboratively with Azure’s editorial team and in-house design staff, we held working sessions to ensure design concepts and written content remained aligned. Closer to printer delivery dates, members of Frontier’s team worked from the Azure offices, helping with everything from deciding on cover art to typesetting final content.

Design Direction

We worked to ensure each feature article reflected the tone of its subject. This ensured no feature appeared repetitive. We also made efforts to stretch the design sensibilities of the magazine, exploring new ways to tell stories through composition, typography, and photography while maintaining Azure’s editorial voice.

Each issue followed an editorial theme. We worked on the Interiors issue, profiling some of the most intriguing and inspiring residences around; the Innovators issue, a deep and incisive look at today’s most innovative problem solvers, civic projects, and idea accelerators; the Retail & Hospitality issue, exploring some of the category’s most innovative spaces, from a new model of urban retreat by Ace Hotel in New York City to a cutting-edge concept store in Lisbon; and the Houses issue, profiling domestic architecture that establishes new house rules for living across the globe.