This issue of Thee Cult Magazine represents the ground floor of what would later become a much more defined editorial and creative direction. It was not designed to function as a conventional magazine in the strict sense, but rather as an executive showcase and institutional foundation - a way of introducing who we were, how we worked, and what kind of cultural space we were attempting to build. 

In particular, this first iteration reflects Pop Cult’s early ambition to define what its vision could look like outside a university society context. The magazine became a way of asking: what can be built from our immediate community if we think beyond the limits of the university itself? This is why the issue functions so effectively as an introduction. Within the context of a university campus, it signals an intention to operate at a scale that exceeds student media conventions - both in aesthetic ambition and in conceptual framing, laying the groundwork for a project that treats the university not as a boundary, but as a launch point.

At the time of production, I was acting as the creative director and main designer, shaping the visual identity, layout system and overall tone of the magazine. My role primarily involved translating moodboards into tangible editorial layouts, establishing a visual language that could hold multiple voices and setting the aesthetic direction for the publication.

 The initial logo for Thee Cult Magazine was designed by me; to deliberately evoke a scrapbook-like, cut-and-paste aesthetic, drawing from the visual language of print media and zines. From the outset, we were aware that was often described as a “dying” medium, for us, print media represented something foundational and important the cultural landscape, despite the huge innovations made through digital.