"Channels" – A Publication by Slack

Channels is a publication by Slack that explores how the modern workplace is evolving, what it takes to empower teams to deliver their best work, and the role technology can play in making our work lives simpler, more pleasant, and more productive – now and into the future. Our internal design team was tasked with creating the identity for the publication overall, as well as designing the layout for the first issue and commissioning new artwork for each of the stories selected. The first issue, "The Way We Work," features three, distinct sections of content: the Past, Present, and Future of work. With this structure in mind, we commissioned full-spread lettering pieces to bookend and divide each section, creating a visual narrative and a pace to the content as the reader moves through the issue.

Channels

A Publication by Slack

Our internal design team was tasked with creating the identity for the publication overall, as well as designing the layout for the first issue and commissioning new artwork for each of the stories selected.

We chose to approach the artwork selection from an editorially-focused perspective, assigning a different artist and a unique style to each article, dictated by the content. This allowed the content to function independently, featuring Slack while not feeling like an overtly Slack-branded magazine.

The first issue, "The Way We Work," features three, distinct sections of content: the Past, Present, and Future of work. With this structure in mind, we commissioned full-spread lettering pieces to bookend and divide each section, creating a visual narrative and a pace to the content as the reader moves through the issue.

Editorial Staff

Lima Al-Azzeh
Rina Bander
Matt Haughey
Stuart Lovinggood
Hairol Ma
Evie Nagy
Anna Pickard
Trina Robinson

Art Department

Alice Bybee
Viet Huynh
Supriya Kalidas
Russell Shaw

Contributors

Chris Andre
Leandro Castelao
Eric Frommelt
Minda Honey
Timo Kuilder
Casey Labatt Simon
Abbey Lossing
Devon Maloney
Simone Massoni
Jordan Metcalf
Dan Misener
Jen Mussari
Garrett Rowland
Jonny Ruzzo
Señor Salme
Scott Schiller
Skinny Ships
Brittany Shoot
Nick Slater
Christina Ung
Israel G. Vargas
Audra Williams
Jason Williams
Jason Wong

Printed in Canada by Hemlock Printers.

Excerpt from the Visual Thesis presentation...

"Channels are passageways — a medium for information to flow through; the container that knowledge comes in.

We want to represent this with a visual metaphor built around the space between — information and content happening between two points, connecting the dots and testing the boundaries. This takes shape through interesting ways for words or colors or illustrations to be confined in unique grid layouts or borders, and, when necessary, to break those confines."

A sample of some of the layout templates for the content, as well as the final typography stack for the issue.

Danmark was used as the stencil font that created the masthead (a typeface with literal "channels" carved in and out of the letters); Atlas Grotesk was used for the sans-serif workhorse, and Atlas Typewriter for the monospace typography accenting the page furniture and rubriks; and Domaine Display Narrow and Domaine Text were the beautiful, rich serifs used for titling and in some body text.

(A huge, special thank you to Alison Colby for the final template design!)