OLTRE. Conversazioni sul futuro. Invesco Italy’s yearbook

OLTRE is the yearbook of investment management company Invesco Italy designed for its top clients. The project was born from the desire to narrate contemporary phenomena and trends from a broad, multifaceted, innovative perspective. Gathering cross-sectional points of view, this publication aims to be a cultured but understandable tool, a space for those seeking depth and inspiration. Without chasing ephemeral topics, but analyzing broad trends, OLTRE positions Invesco in Italy distinctively, giving it a qualified voice, both in the specific market area and in those related to it, educating and stimulating the reader’s thoughts and choices.

OLTRE is the result of a design journey developed in three phases:

1. the definition of the concept and the editorial idea of the publication;

2. the graphic project and the realization of issue #0 of the magazine;

3. the production of the first issue with design and content curation.

Why does an investment company decide to create a magazine? What are the goals of this publication? Who is the target audience?

These were the starting questions underlying a two-day workshop in which the MAIZE team led the definition process for the editorial project’s identity, alternating moments of inspiration, case studies, and benchmarks related to the corporate magazine sector, with co-design sessions and exercises to define the following elements: purpose and manifesto of the magazine, target audience, themes to be addressed in the publication, tone of voice, and visual identity.

The result is OLTRE. Conversazioni sul futuro [Conversations on the future], an annual publication, monographic, a hybrid between a magazine and a book whose debut issue is dedicated to the Metaverse.

Having defined the editorial idea and the foundational aspects of the publication, the formal aspects and the anatomy of the magazine were investigated, identifying the format, pagination, main sections, and columns, with the aim of creating the #0 issue.

After formalizing the structure of the magazine, the graphic project was carried out, designing the 5-column typographic grid that harmoniously fills the 16✕24 cm format of the publication. Colors and typefaces were chosen in line with the brand guidelines, like the Pantone 286 C blue color present on all pages and in graphic elements such as section openings, navigation, and data visualizations, while the lettering of the OLTRE header was specially designed for the cover cage.

The above-mentioned design factors were tested in different types of layouts and, finally, a prototype (issue #0) was printed to verify that the project was coherent and consistent and that the printing yield on the chosen paper was optimal.

From the design of the identity, the creation of the first issue was carried out by defining the flatplan containing all the various formats distributed in a precise order, designed to guide the reader to the discovery of the different “souls” of the Metaverse. Editorials, in-depth columns, reportages, interviews, infographics, and short essays are the forms chosen to explore the topic.

Once a brief synopsis was associated with each content, the joint MAIZE and Invesco Italy teams started writing the articles: in some cases, they were produced internally; in others assigned to external authors. Parallel to the writing activities was the phase of iconographic research, in which the photographic projects published in the magazine were identified and selected, and various illustrators were engaged who created original works to illustrate the articles.

The cover image was created for OLTRE by Mattia Balsamini.

Following the rules formalized in the graphic project, the different layouts were then created, the articles edited, and the entire publication put together, up to the printing and distribution of the first issue of OLTRE, titled L’evoluzione di Internet. Noi e il Metaverso [The evolution of the Internet. The Metaverse and us]. Two goals have guided the project from the start: laying the foundations for the creation of an informed and aware community around Invesco, and positioning the customer as a cultural subject expressing their vision of the world.