Covering The Mission

Until I received the CD compilation of covers I did for World Mission Magazine I haven't realized that I have been volunteering for four years now. It started in 2005 after mass in EDSA Shrine when Father Dave Dominguez was promoting the magazine for new subscriptions. There I was in the front pew, looking at the copy he's holding thinking how hideously designed it was. So I approached him after mass, volunteered to redesign the identity and grid structure, art direct its covers and strip it down visually for some commercial appeal without losing its serious editorial tone. I am glad that it's then newly-installed Editor, Father Jose Rebelo (from Portugal), was open to experiments and gave me opportunity to pursue insane cover ideas (one of which sparked heated debates among the religious community, passionately arguing why one cover isn't theologically appropriate. It's the picture of communion host being held by chopsticks to go I was planning for the Asian Congress and Jesus' presence in Asia.) Now I'm browsing through four years worth of covers and I am so glad having summoned the nerve to approach Father Dave after that fateful mass. I have met a lot of dedicated people while volunteering on the magazine and have enjoined two of our office designer and (just very recently) our photography director to do volunteer work for the magazine, too. Considering nonexistent art and design budget it's some sort of miracle that we continue to pull off a well-presented issue month after month. And it's such a creative exhilaration every time we get hold of the freshly-minted copies.

(This is the first of the series of creative work I'll be posting regularly. This how the magazine looked like before the redesign. The editor insisted of bringing back the red border that was used and dropped a decade ago.)