COMPASS BOX

Introducing the YEARBOOK, created by Pencil for Whiskymakers Compass Box. The result is a beautifully executed zine with a stitched in catalogue in a smaller size in the centre, on a different, grainy paper stock. Every page celebrates the creativity of blending, one way or another, for it is blending that lies at the heart of the methodology behind this unexpected and inspiring Whisky Company founded by Minnesota native John Glaser with a head office in leafy Chiswick, West London. .

As the Ruler of Pencil, I often get asked what bit of any given project I love to do the most. I’m not really sure I can answer that question, but what I do know is that a collaborative team makes for the best results. I love being part of the creative conversations around look and feel as much as I do around crafting the written narrative and working on heads and sells. It’s my cub reporter and photographer training coming into play (my first job was as a junior writer and photographer on a small town daily newspaper in rural Minnesota).

I was thrilled to work on the Yearbook with my long term creative collaborator Cat Howard. After years working together on all forms of print, branding, retail and film projects, there’s a shorthand between us that means Pencil can be nimble and time efficient around flat-planning, conceptualising and truly delivering something original and unique. I tend to visualise the magazine before the flat-planning begins. Sometimes it starts with a word, others it’s a colour, a phrase, or an image. In this case, it was all about the beautiful painting Tobias and the Angel by Verrocchio, which lives in the National Gallery and was the label for a Compass Box Limited Edition Whisky of the same name.

In order to delve into the curious and delicious world of Whisky pairings, we approached Elisabeth Luard, current Chair of the Oxford Food Symposium and award winning food writer and author (her cookbooks are a delight). We also commissioned award winning author and creative writing teacher Rowan Somerville to pen a piece about the delight of a Compass Box Whisky tasting. There’s also experts on ice, blending and founder John Glaser writes about the creative process and what that means for a whiskymaker.

It’s always a delight to create print projects. At their finest, you make something that when you turn the pages, you want to climb into it, through the words and the pictures on the page. Unlike the digital sphere, print encourages dwell time like no other medium. For any brand, no matter how big or small, print still matters and can deliver great results.

Compass Box asks its customers to ‘Please Drink Creatively’. This couldn’t have been a better brief for the shoot we created with the world’s best bartenders on creating a Scotch whisky serve, photographed beautifully by Matthew Donaldson with styling by Katie Phillips.

If you get your hands on a copy (they’re mostly being distributed at whisky festivals around the world), dare I suggest sitting down with the Yearbook in your favourite armchair and pairing your read with something liquid from the Compass Box range, sipped and savoured as you drink in the pages.

For more information about Compass box, visit them here. If you’d like to discuss any print projects or other ideas, drop us a line here.

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Jenny Dyson / November 2019