It’s no secret that brand magazines have traditionally been the preserve of trashy in-flight mags. After all, being stuck 30,000 feet in the air for three hours without any phone signal doesn’t leave much to do other than skim through a tattered copy Ryanair’s latest catalogue. But in recent years, as the trustworthiness of brands has become an increasingly important factor in our spending habits, more and more retailers have looked at how curating their own magazines can help them develop longer-term relationships with customers.

Today, successful brand-owned publications exist across the shopping spectrum, ranging from fashion retailer Net-A-Porter’s bi-monthly title Porter to men’s shaving start-up Harry’s online magazine, the aptly named Five O’Clock. And thanks to the deluge of lifestyle-focused consumer titles already out there and the growing number of indie mags with cult followings, brands are also being forced to become more imaginative in the way that they approach editorial and design if they want readers to, well, read them.