Over 2018 we kept slowly being confronted with the magnitude of the climate crisis and the lake of responses. Icarus magazine challenge was to be appeal to a mainstream audience while being part of the new wave of indie magazines. It should be beautiful, but not too beautiful. The aesthetics should not be used to drown out the message of the magazine but work at the service of the content.

Our aim was to create a serious, intellectually engaging publication that was visually striking. through its sleek design and compelling photography. With our well-researched articles, we wanted to attempt to navigate the fine line between rattling the reader’s sense of revolt and the propensity we all have to switch off and bury our head in the sand.
The challenge was to create a magazine that appeals to a mainstream audience while being part of the new wave of indie magazines. We wanted to be beautiful, but not too beautiful. We didn’t want the aesthetics to be used to drown out the message of the magazine, its content - our intended contribution to move the needle of change. We needed the aesthetics to work at the service of the content.

Icarus Complex is a non-profit magazine that takes an in-depth look at the issues surrounding climate change. The themes and content that are at the heart of the magazine are serious, but we didn’t want to always stay politically correct and polite. To give the right voice to it, the most efficient way was to measure graphically the tone we could and should give thought the typography "games", "punch in the gut" images and "storytelling" illustration. That mixture creates an aesthetics that pushes the reader inside a theme that is not beautiful but needs to be treated with the maximum respect.