Ethos Magazine 2

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Ethos Magazine 2

/ Art Direction + Editorial Design

I was approached by the Ethos C.I.C to lead the design direction of their new ethical business magazine, Ethos. Ethos is a magazine for and about ethical entrepreneurs, innovation and sustainability - good stories of good people doing good things. With an emphasis on accessible and engaging content, the small format and low cover price seeks to appeal to readers of all interests. Typographic and graphic elements remain consistent throughout, whilst bold use of colours and illustrations reflects the variety of stories featured.

Our current linear economy model is reaching its limits. The norm for hundreds of years, the linear economy has relied on vast amounts of materials and energy to be expended to keep up with demand. We live in a throwaway society, and enabled by mass-production of products on a global scale, we place little value on many of the items that we own. But this model is inherently unsustainable and is currently reliant on finite materials to keep it going.

There has been a shift in recent years of global brands, big and small, adopting a circular economy model, which – by design – is restorative and regenerative, effective and efficient. The circular economy keeps products and materials inside the manufacturing process, little is expended, therefore everything retains its value.

The circular economy is a model that we have been encountering a lot here at Ethos. Although our magazines aren’t themed, we have noticed a trend growing amongst the businesses and people whose stories we tell.

Our cover star, Fairphone, is the perfect example of the circular economy in action; producing the world’s first ethical smartphone, whilst championing a circular economy model in the electronics industry – a system of production which is inherently wasteful. We speak to Elvis and Kresse, the UK-based company which is refashioning old, disused London fire hoses into luxury lifestyle pieces. And we speak to Selina Juul, founder of Stop Wasting Food, the Danish movement using a circular economy model to help eradicate food waste on the continent.

And it’s not just businesses adopting a circular model. Our first special edition of Ethos Magazine, People Power – which is free to subscribers of Ethos – explores the theme of communities building their own sustainable, grassroots economies, many utilising the circular economy model, to help their community to flourish.