Project Overview

The Identity Journal is an annual publication curated by leading Melbourne based creative agency TANK Branding. Self published, it explores the ideas, brands, people and insights that surround us every day; influencing our behaviour, our social circles, our businesses, organisations and at times, our ideals.

Organisation

TANK Branding

Team

Publisher: Tank Branding
Editor: Jim Antonopoulos
Deputy Editor: Chanelle Cox
Copy Editor: Richard Foster
Production: Justin Mansfield

Design:
Felicity Mitchem
Chris Butcher
Adam Gent
Richard Ferrer
Tim Heraud
Kevin Blackburn
Gavin Wright
Rachel Symons
Darryl Larcombe

Contributors:
Neil Shewan
Claire Halliday
Richard Foster
Russell Kennedy
Chris Butcher
Steven Caddy
Tim Kotsiakos
Fleur Brown
Phoebe Jamieson
Crystal James
Justin Mansfield
Colin Fairweather
Jenny Mustey
Michael Brooks
David Klingberg

Photography:
Lachlan Moore
Felicity Mitchem

Paper: Spicers
Printer: Bluestar Group - Australia

Project Brief

The brief we set ourselves was tough. To replace our annual publication of case studies by shifting our focus towards the future and not focus on our past.

We set ourselves the challenge of developing a publication at the forefront of brand-thinking, targeting the 21st century leaders of business; exploring the people behind remarkable businesses, and looking at market categories that are leading strategically and creatively.

Ultimately, we aimed to provide the reader with an insight into the people and ideas behind the brands of tomorrow. And in doing so, grow our own knowledge and build networking opportunities with like-minded professionals from all industries.

Project Need

We live in the greatest of times.

Today, we're preparing our children for vocations that don’t yet exist; we're imagining technology thats the stuff of films.

The internet has become the heartbeat of our access to information. Some of its key players speak more than 70 languages and have audiences that rival the population of nations; and we're now carrying the internet in our pockets.

This rapid rate of innovation growth has meant that who we are as people is in a constant state of flux – our identity is being challenged every day. This impact is magnified when we think about the individuality of an organisation.

It's meant that we've been able to influence the shape of business, force industries to rethink business models and lead change towards the highest levels of government – ideas are now currency and the speed at which they travel is beyond our imagination. Brands, people and ideas work together to shape our identity.

Frustrated that there wasn’t a publication that explored the impact of brands from this perspective – let alone one from an Australian viewpoint – we took the lead in creating The Identity Journal.

Design Challenge

As a creative agency, we could design the publication and create content ourselves. This would be challenging but not the biggest of obstacles to overcome. The primary challenges were:

1. How do we inspire thought leaders to collaborate with us?
2. How do we gather the funds to produce the publication without compromising on quality, environmental responsibility and keeping production within Australia?
3. Once we overcame points 1 & 2, would anyone want to read it!

Putting a call out to our network of professionals, clients and favourite coffee spots, we uncovered an overwhelming amount of support to bring the ideas within The Identity Journal to life. Securing the support of key sponsors for photography, paper and printing enabled us to begin realising the project.

Over coffees and emails we were able to engage and secure many of Melbourne’s thought leaders, including; The Age’s Claire Halliday, Swinburne’s Russell Kennedy and the City of Melbourne’s Colin Fairweather. We were also able to secure distribution through independent bookstores including Readings, MagNation and Embiggen Books.

The support and knowledge within our local community enabled us to overcome our challenges and realise our vision.

Sustainability

Ensuring our publication was produced to the highest levels of sustainability possible was a key priority of this project. We were able to achieve this goal by gathering support from both Spicers Paper who donated their Australian made 100% recycled FSC Certified and Carbon Neutral stock ‘Revive’ and Blue Star Printing who printed the publication using vegetable based inks.

The other aspect of sustainability we aimed to meet was the inclusion of socially conscious organisations and contributors throughout our content. In our first issue we featured Melbourne based social enterprise cafe Kinfolk along side a round table discussion centred on ‘The Ideal Library’.

As an organisation, we are also serious about minimising our environmental footprint; participating in the CitySwitch Energy Efficiency program and achieving carbon neutral status. We also believe creativity can change the world, and look to CSR initiatives that have real meaning to us as a creative agency. Initiatives like our Design Can Change membership (creative firms from around the globe who have made a pledge to sustainable design), or our ongoing commitment to supporting the community through pro bono activities and mentoring.