The Unspectacular
An interesting thing seems to be happening to magazines (and architecture) over in Germany (& around the Netherlands). You could call it ‘Unspectacular’. Whereas in architecture what’s going on is seen as a reaction against the often chaotic approach post-modernism has plastered over recent architecture (see ‘Unspectacular Architecture’ in the latest issue of A10 [a10.eu/14]), in terms of magazine design, it could be seen as a reaction against the cheap, throwaway celebrity culture that currently pervades magazine stands around the world from New York to Copenhagen and beyond.
Spex [spex.de] is probably best known as Germany’s progressive music and youth culture magazine. Editorially, they are seen as rowdy upstarts in German magazine publishing due, in part, to their roots in the punk and new wave scene in the early 1980s. The design of the magazine stumbled along through the 90s, not really pushing any particular buttons, emerging in 2000 with a fresh, new look and experimental attitude that seemed to be doing well for the magazine. 7 years on and with a change in location (from Berlin back to where the magazine first started) and therefore a change in editorial team Spex has just had another make-over and, compared to previous issues, it’s kind of dry. A lot of the visual ticks and illustrative elements have been striped out in favour of authoritative typography and stark imagery. For a music and youth culture magazine it’s all looking a little joyless…
brand eins [brandeins.de] is what it does and has been hugely influential because of their straight forward approach to the design of the magazine and their expressive and quirky imagery. For a magazine whose key interest lies in Economics, they do a pretty cool series of covers too. brand eins recently underwent a bit of a nip and tuck, knocking even more of the (spartan) graphic elements out of the layouts. Possibly the precursor to the cult of the ‘Unspectacular’.
PC Professionell [testticker.de/pcpro] is another recent makeover of an established German magazine. If you follow any of the well-known design blogs, you would have seen the title popping up quite a bit lately, largely because of the involvement of Erik Spiekermann [spiekermann.com], the German graphic design superstar who is credited with designing the font that will forever define the 1990s, FF Meta [typophile.com/wiki] and has recently helped rebrand the German public transport system, Die Bahn [spiekermannpartners.com]. There’s no doubting it’s a vast improvement on the original (it wouldn’t be hard) but by restricting colour variation (the magazine uses a strict palette of red, grey and black) and graphic elements, the magazine starts feeling a bit like a textbook. It’s certainly nice and clean now, but also kind of monotonous.
It’s weird, I don’t think the general public has ever been that comfortable with the trashy mags that fill the newsagents racks today, it’s lazy publishing really, hence the need to present them as candy bars i.e. cheap, colourful and throwaway, not a meal, not even a snack, just something to chew on for a bit and then forget about until you get the urge again. One technique to avoid falling into this category seems to have been to try and push your product up-market or make it more ‘niche-y’. This ‘cult of the unspectacular’ takes a completely different tack. Something only one U.K. based magazine seems to have picked up on at the moment. Stand up, Monocle [monoclemagazine.com].
Doing it for the kids
Anorak [anorak-magazine.co.uk] ‘The happy mag for kids’ bridges the gap between a children’s book and character magazine to create a unique new publication. It includes work by Marcus Oakley [banjo.dircon.co.uk], New Future Graphic [newfuturegraphic.co.uk], Simon Peplow [citydreamer.co.uk], Jon Burgerman [jonburgerman.com], Harriet Russell [harrietrussell.co.uk] and Al Murphy [al-murphy.com]. Creative Direction and Design by Supermundane [supermundane.com]. Issue one is out now, and it looks super tasty.
12,000 Cover Versions
The 150th issue of Grafik (formerly Graphics International) [grafikmagazine.co.uk] comes out today and to make this issue extra special they have commissioned K2 [k2screen.co.uk] to screen print each cover of the magazine with various coloured ink, producing a unique effect on every one. The cover and contents are designed by Grafik’s current design house, SEA [seadesign.co.uk]. That’s 12,000 different covers for one issue. I chose a subtle greyish cover but I may have to go back for something a bit more crazy. Problem is how the heck are you meant to choose which one?
Still Bangin’ Eds
It’s good to share and this is too good not to. Boicozine spotted this whilst over at the ever excellent Manystuff blog [manystuff.over-blog.com]. It’s brief promo for the Ed Banger Records [headbangers.tv] compilation Boicozine featured ages back where So Me’s [myspace.com/20399307] illustrations come alive in a series of covers. It’s dead good.
Bumper Reading List
Jeez. After Colophon, I thought I’d need a break from looking at magazines but it seems to have only fed the addiction. Heaven protect my bank balance. I don’t know how I’m going to get through this lot. Lucky there’s loads of pictures to flick through, I guess. :)
Marios magazine [mariosmagazine.com]
Marios calls itself a magazine but similar to Special [specialmagazine.jp], verges on trendy clothing catalogue for clothing label of the same name. This issue takes the Polish capital, Warsaw as it’s theme and contains some cool photography by Kuba Dabrowski [kubadabrowski.com] and random features on art, fashion, illustration and design. Designed by Two Zero Studio [zerotwo.org], the magazine also utilises a recent trend soon to be emulated by the ‘green’ edition of Creative Review [creativereview.co.uk], of doing away with a cover and leaving the spine exposed, binding and all.
Forum AID [forumaid.com]
I picked this mag up in Copenhagen. It looks like a pharmaceutical packet and offers a type of antidote to your typical architectural magazine by mixing up exterior and interior architecture with furniture and industrial design. Fun but formal would best sums it up, and in english too.
I.D. [idonline.com]
I.D., as opposed to i-D [i-dmagazine.com], the two often get confused, is a magazine I’ve been meaning to add to the NMCA cover archive [nmca.boico.net] for some time now. This issue is particularly good, not just because it features a legendary piece of work by one of my personal design heroes, Lou Dorfsman [typogabor.com/cbs-dorfsman], but because this is the Ornament Issue, with loads of crazy examples of modern ornamental applications including a bunch of suggestions for updating Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House [farnsworthhouse.org].
Neo 2 [neo2.es]
‘Cause it was free at Colophon and this fashion issue is ace. See more of their covers over on the NMCA [nmca/neo2].
Self Service [selfservicemagazine.com]
This mag always feels like a bit of an indulgence, mainly because of the price but it feels even more deluxe now they are publishing it with a hard cover. I almost managed to avoid buying it but realised it’s a Chloé Sevigny special with most of the fashion spreads dedicated to the super stylist come actor.
Time [time.com]
Because of the redesign, really. My bad?
Dummy [dummymag.com]
Dummy just gets bigger. You can now download it, read the blog, join the myspace page, listen to the podcast and loads of other stuff… oh and read the magazine which is designed by i-D art director, Dean Langley, and is a more fun and random take on his work for them. Make sure you check the spine too.
Another Man [anotherman.co.uk]
Bought to you by the bods at Dazed & Confused [dazeddigital.com], this far out shines Dazed, but then it’s a pretty lush and glossy production. Gareth Hague’s [alias.uk.com] typography just gets better and better each issue too. This issue also features full bleed colour pages used to denote stories instead of using titles. Radical.
Lodown [lodownmagazine.com]
It would feel odd visiting Berlin without grabbing a copy of Lodown. This one is alright. I kind of wish Marok [marok.info] was still at the creative helm.
Wired [wired.com]
Cause I’m really liking the redesign. It’s not a bad read really.
Readymade [the-readymade.com]
Pro Qm [pro-qm.de] in Berlin is one of those bookstores you have to seek out when travelling abroad. Their magazine selection has become more architecture orientated since I last visited (I grabbed a copy of A10 [a10.eu]) but I after rummaging through the stuff on the top shelves I found Readymade, a design magazine from Hong Kong. Each issue has a theme, this first edition is the Scandinavian Issue and features loads of really cool interviews.
Modern Postcards #4
Modern Postcards #3
Lost Classics: Demon Seed
Demon Seed is a film about a computer that first traps and then coerces a woman into giving birth to it’s child. Based on the novel by the poor man’s Stephen King, Dean Koontz. It’s truly weird. Julie Christie plays the lead role as a warped but sort of cooly rational female cipher, flipped into the mad world of a computer with plans to become living flesh and blood. It’s directed by Donald Cammell [wikipedia] who made Performance [iMDB] with Mick Jagger and James Fox [wikipedia]. Cammell only made a hand full of films in his lifetime and reportedly committed suicide after his last film, Wild Side [iMDB], was heavily edited by it’s producers. Dark. You won’t find a better example of how paranoid the 1970s were than the Demon Seed [iMDB]. The defence mechanism thingy in the basement kind of looks like a Rubik’s Snake too [wikipedia].
Colophon Redux, Part Four
More reportage from Colophon2007 [colophon2007.com], the International Magazine Symposium, held at Casino Luxembourg in early March.
Sunday, Day Three
Magazines that break boundaries
Curator, Jeremy Leslie gave a lush presentation to kick off the last day of talks at Colophon2007 that simply presented a personal selection of inspirational magazine design and editorial through the decades, and I’m not just gushing about it cause I was writing from his blog, honest. Some of the magazines in this presentation included The Face [wikipedia] and Speak [speakmag.com].
Advertising (ahem)
Boz Temple-Morris, forever to be known as the inventor of Death cigarettes [wikipedia/death_cigarette], played devil’s advocate today in presenting a round table discussion on advertising and how drawing advertisers fits in (or in many cases doesn’t) with producing an independent magazine. The main problem with introducing advertising into independent magazines seems to be that it automatically compromises the editorial of said magazine. There were many solutions to this dilemma breached including setting up an umbrella agency to feed carefully selected advertising to independent magazines or creating promotional opportunities that brands could tie themselves in with (Tokion [tokion.com] are particularly adept at this technique) or just ignoring advertisers all together and use other resources to fund your magazine.
Paper murderers and print junkies
No discussion of magazines and magazine design would be complete without some sort of homage to typography. Lars Harmsen [bastard-project.com] and Flo Gaertner [slanted.de] presentation provided this, also giving us an idea of creative trends spreading out from Germany and Europe as an added bonus, all set to a distinctive musical soundtrack. More a mini typeface appreciation society than topical discussion, this was a great follow on from Jeremy’s presentation earlier today. Some of the magazines included in this presentation included brand eins [brandeins.de], Spex [spex.de], Mono Kultur [mono-kultur.com] and Mark magazine [mark-magazine.com].
Colophon Redux Ends. A warm, round of applause goes to Mike Koedinger [mikekoedinger.com] and his team for greasing the wheels that made Colophon2007 run so smoothly and made it so much fun. Thanks!
Modern Postcards #2
After Colophon2007 in Luxembourg, the next stop was Hotel Fox [hotelfox.dk] in København. The Rinzen [rinzen.com] ‘Sleep Seasons’ suite was ace. More about foxy København later on.
[← Previous]
