Staying true to type

A Type of Magic was launched by Mississauga, Ontario based writer, editor and designer Archie D'Cruz.

Archie began his career in print publishing some 20 years ago, as sub-editor for a leading newspaper in Bombay. The pressures of producing quality editorial pages when confronted with continually breaking news stories and daily deadlines are not for everyone, but Archie revelled in his role. A couple of years, and a couple thousand cups of coffee later, he had already risen to become one of the youngest news editors of a mainstream daily newspaper.

From there, he moved on to Bahrain where he held a series of senior editorial positions at a British-run media group.

While still in Bahrain, Archie launched A Type of Magic – a design studio with a primary focus on print publishing. Through his time in the industry, he had come in contact with many independent publishers who were struggling to keep their magazines afloat. These weren't fly-by-night operations; some serious money had been spent in getting their advertising agencies to design and create these magazines.

Unfortunately they were learning the hard way that advertising agencies – even good ones – fail to understand the nuances that go into creating successful publications. Articles were often just thinly-disguised advertisements; editorial pages were more style than substance; design would get in the way rather than assist in making it an easy read.

A Type of Magic aimed to help create publications that were well designed, yet cleanly laid out, professionally edited, and reader-friendly.

The first test came in 1996 when Archie was approached to help produce an annual travel book, Visitor's Complete Guide to Bahrain. The glossy, full-colour, 64-page book was a two-person operation from start to finish, with the client taking responsibility for advertising and distribution. It was a huge success. Today, 10 issues later, the book has grown to 224 pages, with a client list that includes the country's tourism department, business promotions board, airlines and all major hotels. With more than 250,000 copies distributed over that period, the title is a best-seller many times over.

Since moving to Canada in 1998, Archie has expanded into advertising and web design as well, and has worked on numerous campaigns for companies as diverse as American Express, Samsung, WalMart, UPS, Electronic Arts, Zenith, Costco and ReMax.

A Type of Magic continues to be involved in the creation of quality print publications, including three new country titles in the Visitor's Complete Guide series, Discover Vaughan (a travel guide to the city north of Toronto), Whatever (a general interest magazine) and Confidence Bound, a motivational bi-monthly that inspires people to be "the best they can be").