April 2009

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News from the Magosphere April 27th ’09

April 27, 2009 in News round-up | 1 comment

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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!

Colour decoding

April 21, 2009 in Clever ideas | 1 comment

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.

Ask not for whom the doorbells ring…

April 17, 2009 in Personal promotion | No comments

Doorbells cover

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.

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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…

Mine the gap

April 15, 2009 in Clever ideas, New launches, Opinion, Review, Trend, USA, technology | No comments

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Today a new magazine arrived in my mailbox: Mine, the bespoke magazine from Time Inc.

I talked about this before, but now I have a copy, it bears a return visit.

Read the rest of this entry »

We Love Athenaeum

April 4, 2009 in Colophon, Personal promotion | No comments

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The doyenne of Dutch magazine shops Athenaeum, located on the Spui in Amsterdam, currently has a rather lovely window display featuring pages from We Make Magazines. Dank u wel!

News from the Magosphere 1st April 2009

April 1, 2009 in Clever ideas, Colophon, Magazine covers, New launches, News round-up, Personal promotion, Trend, USA, interview, technology | 1 comment

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Rather a lot to catch up on…

Wired UK launches today
The general view seems to be “better than expected, but good luck in this climate”. My friend and erstwhile colleague Hammersley puts it in his own inimitable style: “You might not like it, and that’s fine with us, but you will have to admit that it’s good. In any case, we’re not producing a mediocre magazine for the general reader. We’re making something great specifically for the Wired audience. As David Simon once said, ‘fuck the average viewer.’” (Disclaimer: I have a small piece in issue two). Speaking of tech…

Magazine to feature RFID chip
In fact, a Ztamp, to place on your Mir:ror. It’s from the makers of the rather cute “it’ll read your email while you’re sleeping” Nabaztag. I’d expect Spektacle to watch this intently, as it’s the kind of thing they’d do. What’s also interesting is the mag itself – I have the current issue of Amusement next to me now, that I’ve been meaning to review on here for yonks. It’s rather good. Speaking of video game magazines…

Edge celebrates 200th issue with 200 covers
All polywrapped in a bag with an image of issue one on it. See all the covers full size here

Little White Lies tries digital
Now non-UK viewers can enjoy its graphic monothemed loveliness

Conde Nast switches to digital flowers
Because physical objects are no longer symbolically important at CN Towers. Wait a minute, what’s the date on that piece again? While we’re on the subject…

As good an excuse as any to visit Sans Seriffe
There’s no Fool like an old Fool

The Folio 40 is unveiled
Worthwhile reading featuring movers, shakers, innovators and a blogger. Maybe next year

How Esquire tore strips off its cover stars
Compare with this month’s Flaunt (click here) who had a far lower-tech solution. That’s a real rip they’ve put in – each issue’s is slightly different, a rather brilliant way to both save money and still keep up their reputation for distinctive covers. I wonder if they perforated it slightly at the factory, or just had a line of rippers? And what did they do with all the bottom halves?

A new men’s “style bible” just launched
The preview pics look to me rather like the revived Man About Town with all the words cut out

Colophon interview with KasinoA4
“I bet our magazine would look a lot different if we were based in Miami”. Also reveals previously unnoticed nod to 1970s Playboy. Speaking of whom…

KasinoA4 releases wearable magazine rack
Is it just me, or is this “KasinoA4 X Designer” actually a subtle Monocle pisstake?

Last week’s Economist cover – explained
It made much more sense in the original. They’ve also started to release their magazine audibly – will Economist Radio follow?

Editor blames plagiarism on staff shortages
And thinking shortages

Why our books are the future of fashion photography
Which is nice. Goes on a bit though

And finally… some more Colophon links…

We love you too, Slanted
Patrick’s snaps
The official photographer
Stylink reports (kind of)
Stereo loves Karen