Prize-winning science magazine

Max Planck Society

MaxPlanckResearch wins the German Design Award 2022

The Max Planck Society’s science magazine has been awarded one of the world’s most prestigious prizes for design and visual appearance: an international jury of experts presented Max Planck Research with the German Design Award 2022 in the category ‘Excellent Communications Design – Editorial’. The award was given in recognition of the redesign of the magazine a good one and a half years ago.

Acclaimed: the MaxPlanckResearch science magazine was awarded the German Design Award 2022.

© MPG

In the course of that relaunch, a new visual concept was developed for the magazine by the Augsburg media agency GCO in close cooperation with the editorial team. The resulting modern layout creates a fresher, cleaner and modern feel through the use of colour, (partly full-page) photos and illustrations as well as the skilful play of white space. All of these stylistic interest of a younger readership in science. To achieve this goal, the text lengths were also shortened and new sections introduced. For example, each issue contains a double-page infographic, the ‘Five Questions’ rubric on a current topic in science or society, and the ‘Double Take’ page, which reveals surprising details of a research object.

MaxPlanckResearch has remained true to its basic editorial concept. For many years, the magazine has reported on basic research in the natural sciences, humanities and the social sciences. It presents the results of this research, but also places them in a broader technical and social context. At the same time, the magazine conveys the adventure of research and portrays the people who have dedicated themselves to this adventure. In addition, it sets research policy accents and reflects the attitude of the Max Planck Society and its scientists to current research policy issues, but also to other socially relevant questions.

This concept convinced the jury of the German Design Award, as did transposing the technical terminology, which is often only understood by experts, into a simple language that can be understood by non-experts. Ideally, reading the magazine not only conveys profound content, but also provides reading pleasure.

The printed edition of MaxPlanckResearch has a circulation of 82,000, while the English version MaxPlanckResearch is published with 10,000 copies. Both magazines are also published as an app and e-paper. All subscriptions are free of charge.

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