Take an inside peak at the creative development behind the 43rd annual National Magazine Awards. An essential element of celebrating the National Magazine Awards is the striking artwork, which serves to create a unique and special ambiance for each awards year.
For 2020, we are honoured that NMA-winner John Montgomery partnered with us to create incredible visuals to enhance our celebration of Canadian magazines. We recently caught up with John to get his thoughts on the key factors in developing this year’s creative.
NMAF: You’ve won a Silver National Magazine Award, been nominated several times, and have been a judge in the past. How does it feel to be taking over art direction this year?
John Montgomery: It was a great honour to be asked to work on the NMAs, especially given who the past art directors and design studios have been.
NMAF: What is the inspiration behind this year’s art direction?
JM: I felt like 2020 was a pretty obvious choice, with the lovely symmetry of the numbers. The number of lines/spaces making up each number was chosen for the number of awards handed out this year.
NMAF: What do you enjoy about magazines, as a platform to create art and tell stories?
JM: I love that every issue is a fresh start and a new challenge. I get to try to figure out how to best interpret the story for the reader, making it a compelling and interesting read, while still staying true to the brand and it’s vision.
The NMAF graciously thanks John Montgomery for his talents in developing the creative for the 2020 National Magazine Awards. You can learn more about his work at johnmontgomery.ca.
