Folio is a magazine-style portfolio studio for editors, foundations, and publishers. We design as one edits — line by line, gutter by gutter, masthead first.
We work in pairs, on issues. Below — the masthead, the colour bar, the cabinet of recent covers, and the journal we publish ourselves.
A 1894 publishing house relaunched as a quarterly. Wordmark, masthead, custom typeface, and an issue template that ran across 47 imprints in eight months.
We design identity the way an editor designs a magazine: typography first, image second, hierarchy always. Marks for publishers, foundations, and houses with archives.
Long-form publication design with the rigour of a printed quarterly. Saddle-stitched to clothbound, set in metal type or a custom face we drew for you.
Editorial front-ends with the same hierarchy as the page. Edge-deployed, type-driven, indexed for the long term.
We are not against pixels. We are against losing the page. Below, the colour bar in plain English.
“Folio designed our quarterly the way they designed Granta in 1979 — with a colour bar across the top and a drop cap that took up four columns. We will not undo it.”
“They came up with the masthead before they came up with the brand. The brand followed the masthead. Eight years on, both still work.”
“Folio set our annual report as if it were a Penguin Modern Classic. Our trustees ordered extra copies for their grandchildren.”
Pricing is plain. Most engagements run twelve weeks. Stewardship retainers continue quarterly until the publication closes — which has not yet happened.
Answered plainly. Letters reach the masthead within a week.
No, we are a studio that designs them. We do, however, publish a quarterly journal of our own work, posted to subscribers.
Two issues remain in the spring schedule. We read every brief, including the ones we politely return.