Corporate copywriting

In 2017 I edited a bespoke magazine for Geely Design, part of Chinese manufacturer Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. The one-off magazine was created by the Car Design News team for distribution to press and VIPs, showcasing the breadth and depth of Geely’s design capabilities, across its studios in China, Europe and the United States.

I was commissioned to create the editorial, working alongside freelance magazine designer Pete Avery and photographer Andrew Shaylor.

At 92 pages plus covers the magazine was a substantial undertaking. Over several weeks I interviewed key staff in Barcelona, Los Angeles and Shanghai by phone, and also travelled to Sweden for a couple of days to visit the Geely Design studio in Gothenburg and interview global design chief Peter Horbury.

The interviews provided about 50,000 words of raw material from which I shaped meaningful stories, giving each section, feature and interview a structure and purpose within the magazine as a whole.

The final text comprised eight sections and 18,000 words, telling the story of Geely Design’s genesis, development, mission, skills, experience, and vision. The magazine also conveyed a flavour of the different personalities within the organisation.

Happily, the client was delighted with the result. Peter Horbury went so far as to hand-sign the first 1,000 copies.