Decât o Revistă, cover.

From the launch of Omagiu Magazine in 2005 (noted here) nothing cool happened in the Romanian printed magazine landscape.

Until this month, that is, when Decât o Revistă (loosely translates as Just a Magazine although it fails to convey the sense of irony) hit the streets after a masterfully conducted teasing campaign mainly via social media (follow @decatorevista on Twitter or befriend it on Facebook) but not only — see the viral video about Apropo TV's T-shirts.

What sets this magazine apart is its voluntarism.

What sets this magazine apart is its voluntarism: all content was created pro bono by a core team of five people — Cristian Lupșa, Raymond Bobar, Lavinia Gliga, Gabriel Dobre and Sebastian Ispas — together with over 40 contributors, including my Brandient colleagues Bogdan Dumitrache, Eugen Erhan, Iancu Barbărasă and Ciprian Bădălan, as well as high-profile photographers Cosmin Bumbuț, Alex Gâlmeanu, Andrei Pungovschi and radio star Răzvan Exarhu.

"The cover matters" article featuring artwork by my fellow Brandient designers Bogdan Dumitrache, Iancu Barbărasă and Ciprian Bădălan.

The editorial team's intentions with Decât o Revistă project were well documented by Cristian Lupșa on his blog: quality journalism, convincing visuals, sincerity, dialogue, accomplishing more with less, testing the market, having fun. All checked, I'd say.

Raymond Bobar (Omagiu Magazine, Romanian Esquire, Romanian Men’s Health) signs the magazine's art direction and his work is excellent. For a detailed look into the design process head to his blog.

Lavinia Gliga's 10-page article on Romanian diacritics.

I am happy to note that DoR's pièce de résistance is Lavinia Gliga's 10-page — outstandingly researched — article on diacritics wherein I'm quoted for my look into Romanian diacritic marks. Thank you, Lavinia.

Just perfect. Give me more.

Update: Yes, the project will continue. Godspeed.