Behind the scenes of Fortune Magazine's Southeast Asia 500 cover

Fortune

The Fortune Southeast Asia 500 list provides a snapshot of a region poised to capitalize on global supply chain shifts and booming industries like mining, EVs, and AI.  Fortune’s Executive Creative Director, Peter Herbert, walks us through the creation of the cover for the new #FortuneSEA500 issue.

Transcript

00:00For nearly a century, Fortune magazine has been known for its iconic illustrated covers,

00:05striking stylized and always telling a story. This year for the Fortune June-July 2025 issue

00:11of Fortune Southeast Asia, we look back at that rich legacy to create something distinctly

00:17forward-looking. The goal? To celebrate the remarkable diversity, culture and economic

00:21energy of Southeast Asia and the companies leading the region's growth. So how do we

00:26bring this vision to life? We teamed up with Bruce McKay. He's based in Cape Town with a

00:31creative firm, Studio Mooty. Working closely with the Fortune Asia team, he built a grid-like

00:35composition filled with symbols from across Southeast Asia. The result is a visual collage,

00:41part infographic, part mosaic. From textiles and temples to ports, energy firms and power

00:46plants to street food and national landmarks, each image reflects a facet of the region's

00:52unique identity, both traditional and modern. The illustration relies on clean lines and geometric

00:58shapes which keep the composition readable but also full of rhythm, texture and energy. The tropical

01:04color palette? That was carefully selected, conveying a balance between natural richness and industrial

01:09progress. The final cover is both a tribute and a celebration of Southeast Asia's cultural

01:15diversity, economic power and the 500 companies helping to shape its future.

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