Handpicked city highlights

Handpicked city highlights

A city is a constantly changing cosmos where subculture and commerce, innovation and tradition collide. In Düsseldorf, these contrasts are particularly pronounced. THE DORF THE MAG has set itself the task of showing the city beyond the usual clichés.

THE DORF started in 2014 as an online magazine with articles about people, places and events. Three years later, the first issue of the printed magazine was published, and it has been published once a year ever since. It’s no coincidence that the magazine – unlike the website – is in English. Düsseldorf is an international city and the project partners, including Tourismus NRW, want to make the city easily accessible to the growing number of international visitors.

THE DORF THE MAG Issue 8 from 2025 in silver with a photograph of the evening sky
THE DORF THE MAG Issue 7 from 2024, featuring a 10th-anniversary balloon, a cake, and the Kö parrot on a red background
Slider featuring various double-page mockups - A look inside THE DORF THE MAG issues 7 and 8 on grey background
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
Slider featuring various double-page mockups - A look inside THE DORF THE MAG issues 7 and 8 on red background
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
Slider verschiedener Doppelseiten Mockups - Einblick in THE DORF THE MAG 7 und 8 auf rotem Hintergrund

We support THE DORF · THE MAG as a creative partner throughout every stage of the magazine’s production. From conceptual development to editorial design and visual direction, right through to the final execution, we design each issue wholeheartedly and with a clear creative vision. Working closely with the editorial team, we create layouts, typographic approaches, and visual styles that reflect the contemporary character of Düsseldorf.

A group of guests at a release party for THE DORF THE MAG at the Bilker Bunker, with founders Tina and David blurred in the foreground
THE DORF THE MAG Issue 6 from 2022, featuring a neon architectural photograph against a purple background
Slider featuring various double-page mockups - A look at THE DORF THE MAG issues 5 and 6 on a green background
Slider featuring various double-page mockups - A look inside THE DORF THE MAG issues 5 and 6 on purple background
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
Slider verschiedener Doppelseiten Mockups - Einblick in THE DORF THE MAG 5 und 6 auf grünem Hintergrund
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
Group in front of the NRW Forum—the Tonhalle in Düsseldorf—with the red double-decker bus “City Checker Double Decker” on the occasion of the release party for THE DORF THE MAG No. 2

THE DORF has received several awards, including the CREATIVE.Spaces Award, which is presented by the NRW Ministry of Economic Affairs and CREATIVE.NRW to support initiatives that network creative minds. In 2022, the fifth issue of the magazine received an award in the prestigious Art Directors Club Germany competition and was voted one of the best magazines in the country by a jury of renowned media professionals.

Slider featuring various double-page mockups - A look inside THE DORF THE MAG issues 4 and 5 on a yellow background
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
Slider featuring various double-page mockups - A look inside THE DORF THE MAG issues 4 and 5 on a pink background
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
Cover of THE DORF THE MAG No. 3 from 2019, featuring a pink background and a photograph of an Asian ramen shelf
Cover of THE DORF THE MAG No. 4 from 2020, featuring a yellow background and a person submerged in water

“Another example of successful Urbanana mediation: the city magazine THE DORF from Düsseldorf, which was initially only available online, was networked with the magazines from Cologne and the Ruhr area. (...) Now, THE DORF is also published as a print magazine.”
— Spiegel Online

Slider featuring various double-page mockups - A look at THE DORF THE MAG 1 and 2 on a dark gray background
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
Slider featuring various double-page mockups - A look at THE DORF THE MAG 1 and 2 on a white background
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
vista — Designstudio for communication design in düsseldorf | Handpicked city highlights
Cover of THE DORF THE MAG No. 1 featuring black-and-white nighttime street photography from 2017
Cover of THE DORF THE MAG No. 2, featuring lush botanical photography against a dark background, from 2018
Black-and-white photo of two women at THE DORF THE MAG Release Party No. 1, one of whom is holding a copy of the magazine

Client: THE DORF, Tina Husemann & David Holtkamp
Services: Concept and design, editorial design
Year: since 2017
Photos: Kristina Fendesack, Melanie Zanin, Sabrina Weniger


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