A strategic lens for a studio of makers.
October Custom Publishing | Arts & Culture | Brand Identity & Website
October Custom Publishing is a boutique magazine design studio in Austin who lives for print.
For over a decade, OCP has handled everything in-house for clients like Texas Medical Association, The Absolute Sound, Tribeza, and Texas Nursery & Landscape Association. Design, editorial, photography, art direction, copy, you name it.
They came to us with a website brief, but underneath was a bigger question. How could OCP position a decade of work for the clients they actually wanted?
Craft ahead of strategy.
OCP had a team of experts who could take a magazine from first brief to final press check. Design and writing were strong. Torquil, the studio’s owner and creative director, was running a shop that knew how to make beautiful magazines.
What the studio didn’t have was the strategic lens around the work: brand positioning, audience thinking, and a clear picture of who their work was really for. The craft was ahead of the strategy, and the website was where the gap was most visible.
Putting the studio forward.
We started with positioning. Where was OCP showing up, and where did they want to be? The answers produced a foundation. We gave Torquil brand positioning, audience clarity, a website strategy, and a content framework his team could write from.
The visual system and web design took shape from there with the idea that OCP should feel like a gallery exhibition, a celebration of magazine design. Bold, publication-style typography. Oversized imagery that lets the work breathe. Structured grids and intentional whitespace that feels like a magazine spread. For the logo, Torquil’s existing symbol stayed and we refined the wordmark.
A studio with an audience.
Since launch, Torquil hasn’t let the site sit still. He’s published nearly 250 blog posts and case studies: new work, behind-the-scenes notes, cultural finds, things that caught his eye.
That energy has drawn an audience. Visitors who find OCP through search engage at nearly 3X the rate of those who arrive directly. Most of OCP’s clients are in Texas, but the site’s audience is global. Magazine publishers, editors, art directors, and design-curious readers are showing up and engaging.
From the client
“Chris not only led us through the technical aspects of the website rebranding, but also the content strategy, design, and development—helping us refine our goals, and shape our vision of the future of our business. The end results speak for themselves—our new site’s functionality, look, and feel, is light years ahead of the old. It’s already doing its job spectacularly, bringing us to the attention of potential new client opportunities, and raising awareness of our brand and services.”
— Torquil Dewar, Owner & Creative Director, October Custom Publishing
Explore more world building.
Interested in what a project like this could look like for your organization? Let’s talk about it.
Get In Touch
