For those who do not know me, I love boating. It is a lifelong passion, having grown up summers on northern Lake Michigan. I am slowly turning my passion for boating and the marine industry into business. I am the Director of Marketing & Membership of the Chris-Craft Antique Boat Club, an organization of over 3,800 members worldwide. I have also had the pleasure of working with Chris-Craft, based in Sarasota, Florida—truly one of the oldest and most prestigious names in pleasure boating. And this experience has lead to more personal and client relationships, such as the Minnesota Lakes Maritime Museum, Nelson Boatworks, and Hagerty Insurance.

The Chris-Craft Antique Boat Club publishes The Brass Bell, an upscale, niche quarterly, targeted at antique and classic boating enthusiasts. In just a couple of years we have taken this publication from a commodity-grade 32-page magazine to a 96-page work of art.

To look through a sample, click the thumbnail below.

The Brass Bell is printed on recycled stock, using soy-based inks and minimal aqueous coating. The issues are perfect bound, and are mailed to all 50 U.S. states, and over 30 countries worldwide.

The Brass Bell has a decidedly vintage look, courtesy of custom-drawn typefonts, dingbats, borders and patterns. Masthead typography features handcrafted letterforms based on actual deco typography samples.

The Brass Bell is a perfect example of electronic design workflow. There is no wasted paper or toner printing process used on the design of the issues. Workflow is PDF based—low res PDFs for commenting and approvals, high res PDFs for final output. The magazine is typically preflighted, ripped, soft-proofed, approved, and on press within 24 hours of forwarding artwork to the printer.

Designing a high-end niche quarterly can get a bit “grindy” at times. At the same time, it is very gratifying to see design play a key role in actually advancing the niche.

You’ll see a lot more of The Brass Bell in days ahead.