This Way Up #1

“I wanted to create a place where no one would tell you ‘no’”, This Way Up editor Adam Hunt explains, “the magazine is a creative, experimental space for the contributors and myself.” Cue a debut issue that is intentionally energetic and expressive in design, exploring artistic pursuits in their many forms. This Way Up showcases the curiosity, desire and fulfilment of self-initiated side projects.

The theme for the first issue is Love & Happiness, and it invites readers to forage through its bright pages; trans-American photographic and art direction duo Kelsey McClellan and Michelle Maguire discuss their delightful series ‘Wardrobe Snacks’, in which diners balance food on colour co-ordinated laps (above). Elsewhere, dreamlike works from Ana Montiel’s project ‘Hidden Realities’ fill the page (below).

The magazine is designer Adam’s first endeavour into publishing, and the outcome is a publication that seamlessly marries both aspects. Among headlines that shift upside down (even the title on the cover is inverted) and images that run off the page, are interviews with The Rodina, an art and design studio in Amsterdam (above), Ben Smithm the man behind magCulture fave Shelf Heroes (below) and Karl Toomey, former head of creative at Anyways (It’s Nice That’s creative agency), who fittingly left to pursue his own creative projects (also below).

There is a focus on all forms of creativity, from art and fashion, to independent magazines; “Side projects can be anything, a piece of music, a poem, a painting, a poster, an app, a sketch, a sculpture or a new idea for a company,” says Adam, “they’re all just things people do for the love of doing them and I’d like to reward them for doing just that.” The outcome is a collection of work that leaves you bursting to find your own side project.