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Architecture has long been a popular subject of alternative magazines. Clip Stamp Fold covered the architecture zine culture of the 1960s and 1970s, and now Archi-zines is trying to do the same for the present day, curated by Elias Redstone.
It’s currently a small list, but growing quickly – sadly no RSS feed right now, but it’s well worth checking back regularly to follow this evergreen genre of alternative urban thought through magazines.
Why fashion struggles with race
A really good piece on the colour barrier faced by fashion editorials and the catwalk – and why societally the “paint chip” theory doesn’t work
Eye gets a preview of Port
Review here when I can get my hands on it
Slate writer hates his iPad
The backlash is strong with this one
How a publisher is dealing with the OnePass/Apple subscription situation
Fascinating reading. The key for the big players seems to be “be everywhere, but hope Android on tablets gets big enough to force Apple to back down”
Marie Claire Brazil goes 3D
3D fashion apparently also featured in new mag Archetype X (about which I can find nothing at all except for descriptions of this shoot – does it even exist?)
A round up of books about zines / comic books / small magazines
Contains short summaries of a few things worth knowing about
i-jusi exhibition hits London next month
Well worth checking out their back issues at that. Speaking of which…
Mute offers complete set for 200 pounds
Intelligent mag that did some interesting design things in the late 90s (disclosure: I interviewed Cory Doctrow for them once, eight years ago)
Indiana University student magazine actually well designed
Text’s a bit ropey, but it sure is purrty
People create their own Top 10 magazines
No, don’t ask – I wouldn’t know where to begin
A fascinating-looking Chinese magazine blogger
Sadly, I suspect something is lost in the Google Translation
Front coverline design seems to reference Fire & Knives
Magtastic’s awarding of magazine of 2010 clearly had an effect
It’s quicker to go to the store than to download Wired on the iPad
Depending on how close you are to the store. And that you’re in the same country – a lot of the market for the app isn’t. It is, admittedly, hugely annoying that you can’t multitask while a download happens – which is Apple’s fault, not Wired‘s
Tokyo store serves up only free newspapers and magazines
Looking forward to a report from the always-excellent, Tokyo-based The Magaziner
The Drawbridge redesigns, is no longer a newspaper format
Looks lovely – though the danger is that they might be known as WBRIDGE from now on
V Man appears to place dollar bills on its cover
Not sure if this is real, or a fake viral. Nice use of the idea, though, and goes well with the “No Risk, No Reward” coverline. And every copy is actually packed by models
An investigation into the importance of music magazine design
Student project that interviewed me, Jeremy, David Hepworth and others. I like his visual breakdown method
Samples of C A R S O N magazine appear online
It’s as if the early 90s never left town (via Quintatinta) UPDATE: They seem to have pulled the document. Diego took a couple of screenshots of what was an eight-page, landscape document with some very distinctively Carsonesque designs, complete with a surfing story and what looked like some draft versions of his Huck and Little White Lies covers.
For Wired UK‘s latest edition on privacy, they’ve created a handful of custom covers featuring detailed information about selected subscribers (presumably those with high-profile jobs in the media).
The information seems to have been hand-compiled from digital sources – Benjamin Cohen, for example, seems surprised to see his parents’ new address written on the cover, as well as the fact that he had coffee recently with his ex-boyfriend.
The fact that this information is all out there isn’t so unexpected – what’s more shocking is to see it in this context, written up and printed on the ostensibly public-facing magazine cover, under a famous masthead, all prepared by a group of strangers.
It’s a great idea – though of course not the first time that digital printing has been used to create personalized covers to make this point.
Right-leaning liberarian mag Reason did something similar with satellite images of subscribers’ houses seven years ago, back in the days before Google Maps made such privacy boundaries seem laughable.
And, four years ago, a kind-of-similar thing was also done by the American flavour of Wired, though it seems to have been a far more upbeat affair, designed to discuss ideas of personalized mapping.
The technology isn’t anything special, but when applied intelligently, seeing yourself and your information in an unexpected context associated with public display can give its message a lot of power. Information certainly isn’t what it used to be.
UPDATE: Courtesy of Ben at Wired UK, here’s the cover they sent to Andy Coulson (oo, topical), and here’s the not-so-creepy newsstand version.
And so to my three magazines of the year.
#3: Bloomberg Businessweek
For a long time, Businessweek had some strong content, but framed within a magazine that tried to be a populist version of The Economist one week, and a simplified Popular Science the next. And then, when you tried to read it, you realised that half of the articles were actually aimed at those people who knew the difference between a bear market and a bond rush.
Following its buyout and renaming by the Mayor of New York, it radically changed its look and feel, without sacrificing its knowledge or economic authority. The magazine’s numbers soon turned around, and it is now one of the most interesting mainstream titles out there, with a witty design and strong imagery to match its content.
Though The Economist still has the edge in its global and political resources and commentary, Bloomberg Businessweek is better at drawing out broader life lessons from engaging tales of competition and management, and, crucially, using photography and design to show as well as tell. This is a magazine not just about ideas and movements, but about the people behind them, and it uses all the weapons at its disposal (including a decent commissioning budget) to make a compelling package.
It’s not without its missteps – the one-line summaries of already-short news items are often too truncated to be meaningful, while some company-focused articles can come across as a little lacking in critical analysis. It has also been criticized for dropping in mentions of the $18,000pa Bloomberg terminals that are the source of the company’s wealth. It would certainly be interesting to see how the title would report on a Bloomberg run for the presidency. Some illustrations could be accused of being a little over-frivolous. And, as a non-business/economics type, I have to admit to flicking past as many articles as I read in each issue.
However, what really elevates the publication to Magtastic Top Three status is the work of its talented design team, led by Richard Turley. This is the only newsstand magazine that repeatedly takes risks in its commissions, using illustration, photography, witty flowcharts, infographics and typography to play with the elements of each story. Nothing, not even the logo, is safe from its intelligent playfulness. Not everything works, but for a weekly magazine, its success rate is remarkable. Pretty much every issue contains an image or feature whose design is among the best things I’ve seen that month, easily besting those with four times as much lead time for their articles.
In the past eight months, what was a flagging niche title has become relevant and engaging. Whether or not you follow business, if you are interested in the witty, intelligent, clear design of complex stories, you need to follow Bloomberg Businessweek.
Click here for an excellent analysis of the magazine’s year.
