Imperial College London’s D/srupt magazine

Project managing the Imperial College London Enterprise Lab’s D/srupt magazine 2021

The client

The Imperial Enterprise Lab at Imperial College London is passionate about inspiring the next generation of student innovators and entrepreneurs. A place to challenge the norm, make things happen and change the world for the better, the Imperial Enterprise Lab unites people from different disciplines, cultures, backgrounds and life experiences.

Mentored by experts, students:

look at situations from new angles
solve problems
test ideas
tackle pressing social or environmental challenges
develop career-enhancing skills.

The problem

Having proofread every issue of the Imperial Enterprise Lab’s annual magazine, D/srupt, since its 2018 launch, Catch the Sun was uniquely positioned to assist our client at a time of unexpected need. Due to COVID-19-pandemic-related upheaval, our client, Jennifer, found that the rescheduled date of her wedding coincided with the development of D/srupt’s 2021–22 edition. She urgently needed some extra assistance to meet the magazine’s pressing deadline.

The solution

Very happy with our previous work on D/srupt and aware that we knew the magazine well, Jennifer asked us to become an extension of her team – albeit on the other side of the world. Beyond our usual proofreading duties, this time we became more involved in the development of the 52-page magazine, and at an earlier stage, too.

While Jennifer said ‘I do’, we:

fully researched and wrote magazine articles from scratch
drafted articles based on previously recorded interviews
managed niche, often-complex information, converting this into easily readable articles
wrote cover and article headlines
project managed all approvals, including from the Imperial Enterprise Lab Director
managed the collection of headshots and images from various sources
developed the magazine’s page running order
copy edited the entire magazine
proofread the entire magazine
liaised throughout with the magazine’s designer.

The results

Having stepped in to offer the client a seamless stopgap solution, we ensured the D/srupt 2021–22 edition met its deadline and was finalised in time for the university’s Welcome Week. Jennifer was thrilled with the final magazine and agreed that it fully met her brief. She now knows the Catch the Sun team is capable of assisting with future editions of D/srupt in a greater capacity, and with other editorial projects too, if needed.