25 years of Footsteps magazine!

Posted Tuesday, 29 September 2015 by Amy

We took a fun studio field trip down to London (and Memory Lane) on Friday to join the international resources team and other staff members from Tearfund to celebrate 25 years of a magazine we design called Footsteps. Richard and I spent a lot of time standing around next to pieces of our work while Bill, Wingfinger founder and recent retiree, caught up with some of the Footsteps makers and users from years gone by.

Amy and Richard posing with Alice, one of the current Footsteps editors. Photo: Andrew Philip/Tearfund

Wingfinger has been involved in the production of Footsteps magazine since the beginning, and the three of us have worked on it, between us, for the entirety of those 25 years. It was a real thrill to meet together with some of the people who began the publication or worked on it during (so far) 98 issues, as well as chatting with the current magazine and language editors.

Footsteps is produced in three editions a year and each in four language versions – English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Finished editions are also often translated into Hindi and other local languages by users. It was, and still is, designed to work around these language requirements, enabling the information contained in each issue to be easily disseminated. This is definitely not a design that was intended to be ‘pretty’ or ‘cutting edge’ – the priority has always been to present copy in a clean, clear way so many people around the world would be able to access it. (You can read more about designing for multiple languages here.)

It was a real treat for us to hear stories on Friday about how Footsteps magazine has been used sent in from readers around the world. As designers, we don’t often get to hear what happens to the work once it is released for an audience! We feel really privileged to be involved in such a brilliant publication and are looking forward to the 100th issue next year!

You can find out more about Footsteps from Tearfund’s international resources site, TILZ, and access copies of all published editions, here.