Can you believe that after 54 years of printing, Time Out released its last ever print edition late last week (June 23). Entitled London Rising, the print focuses on the people who are shaping the future of the city.

The issue comes together with four covers illustrated by some of London’s most exciting creatives, ending on an optimistic end rather than a doom and gloom, nostalgic bitterness about the publication industry. Time Out looks into the future over the past. 

Art Director Bryan Mayes is the man behind this whole project. Through scouting and emailing you appointed four graphic designers, one for each cover. These artists are Hassan Hajjaj, Kris Andrew Small, Lakwena Maciver and Real Hackney Dave.

“Although Time Out is ending its regular print magazine, the brand and its mission aren’t going anywhere. All the funny, informative and visually compelling content the printed magazine was always known for will now carry on digitally. So we wanted these last covers, and the whole issue, to be really positive and looking to the future”, showing “that it was – to some extent – business as usual.” While pulling together the issue, Bryan was also designing a brand new daily email – launched just two days after London Rising went to print – then polishing off the first-ever digital Time Out cover shoot that afternoon in Stoke Newington.

London Rising also meant Bryan got to do what most art directors can only dream of in this lifetime: “hav[ing] a pocket full of blank cheques to commission whoever the hell I wanted (within reason!).” As expected, this culminated in a mammoth amount of commissioning; aside from the four cover artists, Time Out worked with Jimmy Turrell, Eynon Jones, Toby Triumph and Kezia Gabriella for features within the issue. We can only dream!

Beyond the covers, readers can expect love letters to London from writers and comics, plus a summer guide and a look into how our city is rewilding itself. On the cover front, Lakwena imagines London as a paradise, Hassan Hajjaj illustrates London through friend and local, Blaize, Hackney Dave sees London as an ever-evolving organic entity, while Kris Andrew Small sums up the city’s energy, colour, mess, and beauty.