Alfieri magazine

Contributed by Onno Hesselink on Jul 1st, 2022. Artwork published in

2021

Onno Hesselink, Els Vandecan. License: All Rights Reserved.

Alfieri magazine cover year 1

Alfieri magazine, an independent publication for and by Maserati enthusiasts, is tapping into the next generations of Maserati owners, whether they like classic cars or favour current models.

Presented as a limited edition collector’s item, Alfieri dives into the glorious past and discovers the exciting future of Maserati, with a strong emphasis on photography, design, lifestyle and architecture. The magazine draws inspiration from interactions with the Maserati community and international clubs.

The younger generations have a well-defined view of why and how they experience their cars. How they spend their free time brings new momentum to the realm of Maserati. Alfieri delivers unique and relevant content in a contemporary way, focusing on photography, graphics, design, architecture and lifestyle.

Three editions are created annually with a distribution of 4,000 copies per edition to individual subscribers, clubs and dealerships on all five continents. The global audience is characterized as knowledgeable individualists with a passion for design, travel, food and all things Italian.

Maserati has a vast history, obviously in design too, and today with the recent launches of new models, the brand is back on track. Audacity and Modern Luxury are the new keywords.

The typography and page layout of the magazine refers to sales brochures of Italian car brands from the 50s, 60s and 70s and is topped with a layer of contemporary design. This is expressed through the use of two typefaces of strong character.

For the headlines and quotes, we chose a relatively old typeface that has only recently been digitized. Eksell Display has a strong face of its own and looks very contemporary. According to Letters from Sweden, it “is a unique typeface from 1962, designed by the legendary Swedish designer Olle Eksell (1918–2007). Olle was a prolific artist who couldn’t resist sketching out whatever ideas came to mind.” This is something that many well-known car designers still do to this day. “His work covered a broad range, but Eksell was his only complete typeface. The letters were drawn in Olle’s five-square meter studio in Stockholm, six years after he designed the classic Mazetti eyes.” Carefully digitized and developed by Göran Söderström, it is available by Letters from Sweden.

The body copy is set in Inter, a typeface by Rasmus Andersson, “carefully crafted and designed for computer screens”. Inter features a tall x-height to enhance the readability of mixed-case and lowercase text and has the same qualities in print.

An open page layout with plenty of white space combined with large headlines defines the look of Alfieri. This leaves maximum room for the images of both historical photographs and illustrations and modern photography to speak.