At the end of 2017 Dyson launched its first editorial publication on: - a quarterly print issue created to communicate with their customers worldwide, champion technology and innovation, and raise awareness about serious issues like the global air quality crisis. The fours issues for the year are on: Inventors, Breathe, Hair and Sustainability. One of the key objectives of the project was to organically grow a community of the curious, who would share and enjoy the types of stories that have driven Dyson to invest billions in engineering and new technologies.

With over 25 years of design history, Dyson’s design principles were at the forefront of the creative brief. The latest issue, on:Breathe published 10/10/19, explored the global air quality crisis. Dyson wanted to produce an issue which demonstrated the damaging effects of air pollution, both for the environment and our health. Visually representing this largely invisible problem was a particular challenge which required thoughtful shoot art direction, infographic commissioning and illustration. It was also personally important to Sir James Dyson, that the issue reflected his 30 plus years campaign to clean up our air.

We approached the brief, by determining which content was most impactful and relevant to the issue. It became clear that the more engaging visuals came from stories about domestic air pollution. One example, running across a DPS, the conceptual image, depicting two bin bags in the shape of lungs - highlighting the problem of filling your lungs with ‘rubbish’. Likewise, the ‘42 household pollutants’ tiled spread, showed less-obvious household pollutants, photographed and styled by our carefully curated contributors. In both cases, the data spoke for itself and we stripped back unnecessary elements, focusing on clarity of design and art direction, leaving the audience to digest the key information.

While retaining the iconic Dyson design toolkit, we also experimented with a variety of mediums showing the subject matter, from simplified infographics and conceptual art direction, to long form reads and stylised illustrations. We also introduced documentative photography to convey a humanised perspective on the pollution problem, emphasizing the words through carefully curated imagery - a medium which the audience wouldn’t necessarily associate with a Dyson publication.

For the cover we wanted a conceptual visual that would work on two levels - describing the scale of the problem, while making readers look at the problem in a different way. It needed to be clear to a global audience and encourage their curiosity. The image sits within the bordered composition with the large masthead creating the publication’s identity. The use of bold primary colours against a neutral palette, added to Dyson’s sophistication.

By the end of 2019, on:Breathe will have been read by over 300k people online and distributed around the world through Dyson’s network of Demo stores, including London, New York, Dubai and Delhi. The issue has been well received by creatives and academics alike, and Dyson have called it their ‘best issue by a long, long way.’