Following on from the successful London event chaired by Jeremy, I’m getting the USA into the act with an evening modestly entitled ‘The Future of Print’, discussing independent magazines and celebrating the US release of We Make Magazines.
It takes place next Wednesday, 8th July at the Art Directors Club in New York. Come along, do!
Click ‘Continue reading’ for the full info and the press release.
continue reading…
I’m still on the move (and have picked up some rather fun things on my travels, more of that in a couple of weeks when the Blogsplosion will return proper with a papery boom) but in the meantime, I have a special offer for London-based readers: to celebrate the UK launch of The Doorbells of Florence (my rather gorgeous new fiction book containing pretty photos of doorbells and lovely hand-drawn typography, published by Chronicle Books), I’m giving a special reading at Stanfords, home of all things travelicious.
Tickets normally cost £5, but as a Magtastic reader, you can get in free with the password “Ding Dong”. There’ll be some free wine, and of course a reading by yours truly from the book, parts of which have recently been adapted online by The Guardian. The LA Times called it “a breath of fresh air for those willing to lose their grip on rationality”, so come along, loosen your grip, and breathe deeply.
The full details:
Wednesday 1st July, 7.30pm
Stanfords, 12-14 Long Acre, Covent Garden
Seekrit password: Ding dong
Also forthcoming that week are free readings in Leeds and Manchester - more information on the site.
I’ve been travelling and working in various parts, hence the radio silence, and there’s more to be done before it’s over. Fear not, however: I’m planning a whole bundle of mag-themed updates for later on in the summer, which I rather suspect you’re going to enjoy.
Meantime, if you’re hungry for your Magtastic fix, in today’s Wall Street Journal Europe, I have two pieces about magazines: Reinventing the Magazine and an interview with the tattooed magazine himself, Marc Strömberg. You can also go to YouTube and see me as presenter on ColophonTV.
And finally, for London-based readers, my new book has just been adapted into a play by Vivid Dreams Productions, combining images and text in a particularly interesting way. It opened early this week, and is on in North London for another two weeks. Tickets are a recession-friendly ten pounds. There’s more information here; I’ll be there on Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd, so do come by and say hello.
Porfolio closes
Finally put out of its misery. It was an ambitious idea, hamstrung by constantly changing staff, poor cover choices and, in the end, the economy. They did some good stories though, and brought an old-fashioned ‘big spend’ ethic to business reporting - perhaps one of the last to give that a go
The retail/cover price flowchart
A whizz with the Powerpoint he ain’t, but Hello! Canada’s associate publisher breaks it down simply for them that wants to know
NY Photo Festival co-curated by magazine people
Photo eds of Foto8 and New York - two magazines I enjoy - help build a festival. Speaking of controversial imagery…
Look mum, no Photoshop!
Though next time try no studio lighting, no camera filters either. Still, careless Photoshop isn’t ‘armless
Wallpaper* team goes to China to create new issue
A bit like the method that Swiss magazine soDA used to employ. But with a bigger budget
Small-run art magazine leaves magazines on park benches
Lovely subversion of distribution ethic
Highlights from AIGA exhibition on dance magazines
A great reminder of how not all interesting magazine design comes from fashion magazines
Subscribe to the Zinoteck!
Following on from Stack… it’s Netflix for magazines!
Digital magazine features live Twitter feed
Not very well designed, but it’s a signal of intent
Sticker magazine leaves its mark
Graffiti for lazy people
Avant Garde issue 1 - now on issuu
The start of seeing classic mags re-emerge from the archives. Anyone here make partworks? I would love to create a classic magazines reprint partwork… and I know there’s a market for it, if we can only sort out the copyright minefield. Partworks people, get in touch!
Magazines have long been fertile ground for artists, whether they’re cutting them up, satirising them in one way or another, reducing them to descriptions or to the size and position of their headlines/adverts.
Today’s 20×200 features a new take on Vogue and Vanity Fair (excerpted above). The artist, Lauren DiCioccio, has taken a text-heavy page from each of those august publications, and painstakingly replaced each later with an associated colour according to a code she has created.
The results, titled “Vogue JUL07:pg145 (Ripeness is All)” and “Vanity Fair MAY08-pg269 (and, incredibly, looking not a day older)” are really rather lovely, and far more colourful than their rather staid layout might deserve. As ever with 20×200, 200 small prints are available @ $20, 500 @ $50 and 20 giant size prints @ $200.
If you wanted to, of course, you could decode the articles from the colours (presumably their titles will give you a starting point). Something for a rainy day, right there.
Information, design, interaction, interpretation, magazines. I think that’s every one of my buttons pressed, except cake.
Not strictly mag-related, but I thought you should know: my first fiction book is now in stores in the USA and Canada, with the UK and Europe to follow from June. And I’m incredibly pleased with it.
The Doorbells of Florence is, I’m told by this week’s reviewer, “a beautiful little hardcover” with stories that are “sweet and mysterious” and a bit like Amelie.
As you might expect, it’s also rather lovingly designed by the talented Andrew Schapiro, featuring Joel Holland’s gorgeous hand lettering.
You can read more about its unique design here, and then get yourself a copy here if you’re in the US, and pre-order here for the UK.
And if that hasn’t already moistened your appetite centres, it even has its own website.
Tell your travel-happy granny and your Italy-loving friends, tell your friends, neighbours and design-junkie roommate. Buy one for your dad for his birthday, or just because. And, of course, get one for yourself. You’ll love it, I promise.
Book tours are also occurring, including in a few unexpected places. Let’s just say that if you’re in Washington DC in a few weeks’ time, you might want to hang around a few decent hardware stores…
Thanks for listening. Your scheduled programming will return shortly…
