After months of talking about journalism, websites, design, audiences, and the future of local media, we finally relaunched CapeTowner.
And then we made cupcakes.
Thirty of them, to be precise. Each one carrying the new CapeTowner logo.
Because apparently, that's what you do when you've spent months reimagining a publication.
The new CapeTowner went live on Spring Day. A new look. A new approach. A renewed focus on telling the stories that make Cape Town worth exploring.
So what’s new? CapeTowner has a fresh new look and a sharper focus on helping people experience Cape Town for themselves.
The relaunched publication is a hyper-local guide to the city, covering food and drink, hiking, neighbourhoods, places to explore, and the people and stories that make Cape Town what it is.
The idea is simple: useful, interesting local journalism that doesn't just tell you what's happening, but gives you a reason to get out there and experience it.
And, somewhere in the middle of all that, there were Towner treats.
From pixels to icing
There is something quite satisfying about seeing a digital brand become something you can actually hold.
Or, in this case, eat.
The CapeTowner logo that now lives on a website suddenly had to survive icing, decorating, and whatever other challenges are involved in putting a brand on a cupcake.
Tessa's Bakery in Milnerton made 30 cupcakes especially for the relaunch, and we documented the process from start to finish, with some very delicious aromas filling the bakery along the way.
Why cupcakes?
I should probably explain why we made them in the first place.
When we started working on the new CapeTowner, we spent a lot of time talking about what we wanted the brand to feel like.
We didn't want it to feel corporate.
We didn't want it to feel like another news website shouting at you from your phone.
And we definitely didn't want CapeTowner to be something that existed only on a screen.
We wanted it to feel like Cape Town.
Curious. Local. A little unexpected.
And, ideally, something you want to be part of.
So cupcakes seemed entirely reasonable.
Because behind all the talk about websites, journalism, algorithms and audience engagement, there is something much simpler at the heart of CapeTowner.
People.
People making things.
People doing interesting things.
People opening businesses, creating art, building communities, exploring neighbourhoods, cooking food, playing sport and finding new ways to make this city their own.
Those are the stories we want to tell.
And those are the experiences we want CapeTowner to encourage.
A publication you can step away from
The Towner tote was part of that thinking.
The cupcakes are too.
One is designed to go places.
The other is designed not to last very long.
Both are invitations to experience Cape Town rather than simply read about it.
And there is something rather fitting about launching a new publication with something made by hand.
The website might be digital. The stories might arrive on your phone. But behind every story are people, places, conversations and experiences that exist in the real world.
That is the CapeTowner we want to build.
A publication that tells you what's happening, certainly.
But also one that makes you want to put the phone down, walk out the door, and see what happens next.
Perhaps you'll find a new café.
Perhaps you'll discover a neighbourhood you've never properly explored.
Perhaps you'll meet someone whose story you didn't know.
Or perhaps you'll just find yourself standing somewhere beautiful with a cupcake in your hand.
We can live with that.
The cupcakes won't last. The stories will.
There is, of course, one important difference between the Towner tote and the Towner treats.
The tote is meant to stick around.
The cupcakes are not.
And if everything went according to plan, by the time you're reading this, most of them will have disappeared.
Which feels like a pretty good way to start.
CapeTowner is officially back.
And now we'd like to hear from you.
What makes Cape Town feel like Cape Town to you?
A neighbourhood you love? A tiny café? Someone whose story deserves to be told? A place you keep returning to? Something you've discovered that more people should know about?
Tell us.
Because those are exactly the kinds of stories we're here to find.