Leslie, J. (2013) ‘The Modern Magazine, Visual Journalism in the Digital Era’ London: Laurence King Publishing What is a magazine? •
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‘The Face, Blitz’ (UK), ‘Tempo’ (Germany) – ‘These independently published glossy magazines took advantage of the relatively new phototypesetting technology. Able to match or exceed the major publishers magazines in terms of quality of content and production, their young designers used the typesetting systems to challenge design conventions instead of mimicking old styles of production’ (1980s) i-D magazine (is another example’ ‘lo-fi…DIY aesthetic’ ‘here was a prominent magazine art director (Terry Jones) taking a DIY approach’ ‘i-D was concerned with street fashion, a revelation itself at the time, and its entire visual identity reflected this’ ‘it was no longer simply a case of the bigger glossier and slicker the better’ The arrival of the apple macintosh – 1984. ‘This democratisation of design turned out to have a positive effect on editorial design and production’ o Emigré (USA) and RayGun (USA) ‘took a very traditional publishing format and subverted it’ ‘used the new technology to push the boundaries of what was legible’ ‘ignoring legibility in favour or selfexpression’ – a reflection of grunge music. ‘The introduction of the mac to the magazine studio went on to bring highquality magazine production to the smallest of publishers and empowered those inspired by Terry Jone’s i-D’ ‘Today is a new golden age – an age where the very idea of what a magazine is can be challenged and where you will find a willing audience to enjoy and share questioning the exploration. The basic alchemy of manipulating text and image on a page – visual journalism – has never been easier, printing small numbers of copies has never been cheaper and, in the hands of top practitioners, the results never more exiting’
Rethinking the magazine • •
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At the end of the twentieth century ‘larger quantities of more titles were being sold than ever before’, but ‘success itself can limit your creative options’ ‘Magazine production had become standardized to the point where printing presses dictated the most efficient page size, competition on the newsstand meant cover design rules were universally observed and the magazine content was too often manipulated by the agents and PR representatives of pop stars and actors’ ‘standardization invited questioning’ o Nice magazine (UK) – piece of plywood, questioning a magazines physical properties ‘The advent of the web as a common utility has led magazines to re-examine their physical properties’
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o Monocle (UK) – more book-like format, ‘that flies in the face of perceived wisdom that a front cover should balance familiarity with change from issue to issue’ Newspapers have turned to ‘magazine-style content and design’ e.g. British Portuguese publication I, ‘G2’ by the guardian. Some ‘publishing projects have taken the word ‘magazine’ back to its etymological roots (‘storehouse’)’ o La Más Bella – ‘themed collections of objects produced by multiple contributors’ o MK Bruce/Lee – ‘a collection of things compiled in a different package for each issue’ o T-post – ‘a brief written piece printed inside a t-shirt that bears an illustration based on the test on its chest’ o Mono-kultur – ‘changes precise form each biannual issue: it has employed fold-out posters, gatefold sections, different papers and tipped on smaller sections’ o ‘highly collectible’ ‘Thanks to technology it is cheaper and easier than ever to develop and manufacture a magazine’ ‘The hardest part of the process – getting your publication to readers – becomes increasingly difficult as specialist shops close’ – there are ways of solving/getting around the problem. Distributing your magazine in an inventive way eliminates the restrictions of the newsstand – ‘the demands of the newsstand mean many front covers follow formulae but as more magazines are distributed away from the newsstand, so the designer is freed from these restrictions’ o Is not magazine – ‘flyposting their publication as a poster’ o Sales by subscription e.g. M-real o In-flight magazines e.g. Carlos, Up o The big issue ‘Now there are multiple ways of making money and distributing magazines’ ‘Magazine makers continue to challenge readers’ expectations of what a magazine can be’ Some magazines have chosen to ‘challenge editorial conventions in their pages’ o ‘In 2007, Creative Review sold the right to edit and design an entire issue on ebay’ o O.K Periodicals and Magazin über Orte ‘publish content submitted by contributors along a particular theme – the publishers curate and collate the content but publish without comment’
Reinventing genres •
Magazine makers are not only challenging our preconceived ideas of what the physicality of a magazine should be but also what it should be talking about – ‘a new body of independently published magazines has appeared that reinterprets traditional genres of magazine publishing, questioning the medium while appearing in more traditional physical form’
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Similarly to the design and layout of magazines, with the consumer boom leading to ‘success came a fear of failure and a blunting of the will to innovate’ ‘Encouraged by the internet’s forthright sharing of opinions, small publishers began launching their own magazines that were implicit critiques of their mainstream rivals’ EXAMPLES o Carl*s Cars – ‘it revels in the day-to-day presence of cars in our lives’ – unlike mainstream car mags focusing primarily on ‘speed, power and statistics’ o Put an egg on it – ‘the social side of food, the mutual enjoyment of eating together and the shared memories of food we start building up in childhood’ o Fantastic man – ‘it favours ‘real’ men instead of models’ o Frankie, Oh Comely ‘both veer away from high fashion and ‘feminine’ warm colours to present a far broader and more realistic concept of modern womanhood’ ‘Their new approaches attract an international, media-savvy and upmarket audience’ ‘In stepping away from the usual portrayal of their subject they have reinvented their genre’ (All these new/reinvented genres seem to relate to REAL life and are presenting something people can really relate to and become excited about, as well as find useful and interesting – maybe with this standardization of content/design has led to this complete backlash – advertising often presents a world people could aspire to/want. Maybe people have tired of this. They have tired of the norm, the standard and want something different, innovative, beautiful)
Put A Egg on It (USA) Editors and creative directors: Ralph McGinnis and Sarah Forbes Keough • • •
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‘With food we can be idiosyncratic and appeal broadly at the same time. Even people’s grandmothers like our magazine because it’s cute’ ‘culture combines well with the culture of people making magazines about what they like’ ‘there is a difference. Magazines are about editing and choice, while the Internet is about immediacy. The art of making a magazine is editing. You have to make a choice, stick with it, then its out in the world and it’s done. That’s why I don’t believe print is dead’ ‘A 20-year-old photographer doesn’t care is their photograph is posted online. But if that photo gets in a magazine, they love it. They understand it’s a big deal’ – why young creatives will always be motivated to create magazines or create work for magazines. Because doing so feels more like an achievement, recognition of talent. Anyone can post anything online nowadays. To be recognised and published in a magazine… is a big deal.
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‘To me, a zine means you love the subject, not that you’re trying to make money’ ‘People working on magazines are also fans but I feel like they get lost in the business of it’ They would like the future of magazines to focus on small independent magazines rather than big mainstream publishers because ‘they don’t add anything to culture’ – he proposed ‘what the big publishers should do instead is invest in people like us, people making small magazines on tiny budgets’
Design x Content • The scope within design and therefore what provides a magazines 'unique character’ ‘has been extended by computerization, bringing almost limitless options’ • The importance of the relationship between the editor and art director – the design needs to ‘reflect the tone of the written content’. • ‘In a world full of accessible content, one of the virtues of printed magazines is their ability to combine multiple story-telling methods – text, photography, infographics and illustration – to create strong narratives and distinct character’ • ‘design has become content’ • ‘a response to the challenge of the internet, publishers have looked to special printing finishes to emphasise their engagement with multiple senses (touch and smell, as well as sight) and exaggerate their physical presence’ e.g. Wallpaper magazine • ‘use special fluorescent and metallic inks to help their covers demand the attention of readers’ e.g. ‘British Harper’s bazaar went further, embellishing its logo with Swarovski crystals for a limited – edition special cover’ • Uk Elle produce ‘entirely different front-cover designs for their newsstand and subscriber issues’ – to make ‘their subscriber issues special and therefore more desirable’ o ‘With no need to sell the content to the subscriber, their covers can be more creative rather than commercial’ Print x Digital • ‘New technology regular surfaces as a concern’ o 1969 Magazine Design, Ruari McClean. ‘New photo-typesetting technology’ running ‘the risk of infatuation with distortion for its own sake’ o 1991 William Owen, Modern Magazine Design. ‘Obtrusive idiosyncrasies that we see in much computer-based design today… which stem from its limitations and from the over –exuberance typical of anyone who has been given a new toy’ • ‘Technology has undoubtedly improved magazines’ o ‘The editor and designer now have a degree of control unthinkable even ten years ago’ o Mclean and Owen were expressing worry that new technology would be used unwisely in the hands of designers – ‘many visual journalists are indeed making carefully considered use of technology’
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‘In the context of the previous changes in technology, the internet can be seen in a different light’ - ‘Magazines have benefitted from the arrival of the internet’ o ‘independent magazine writers discovered their voices writing blogs’ - ‘a highly personal sensibility, inspired by blogging’ o combination of blogging and a printed publication e.g. Itsnicethat.com – ‘having a physical representation of their output meant advertisers and clients took its nice that more seriously’ o ‘vehicle to investigate those themes in more depth’ Combining the two e.g. ‘Things our friends have written on the internet’ – ‘a curated snapshot of the web’ ‘a selection of their favourite blogs or websites and reproduced without the permission of the originators’ Print – on – demand services e.g. ‘HP’s macloud’ – individual prints of the magazine are made – this is more expensive for the buyer but it means ‘the publisher avoids the heavy investment involved in printing copies in advance of sales, and also in distributing them afterwards’ Reliance on the internet/computer technology ‘to research, promote and sell’ the magazines o Independent publishers can use ‘free services’ ‘gmail, skype and facetime provide vital communication with both contributors and readers’ ‘facebook, twitter and blogs…help promote them’ internet has ‘revolutionised distribution’ – ‘increasing the reach of independent magazines’ e.g. Big Cartel and Shopify ‘direct, international access to online sales’ – with no extra cost of ‘third-party distribution services or increasing their print run to supply stores across the world’ The ‘creative challenge’ the internet has posed to publishers has also pushed them to reinvent/rejuvenate the magazine – ‘renewed internet in alternative paper stocks’ ‘special inks, metallic blocking and die cuts are some of the other print-only effects available in the quest to become more magazine-y’ E.g. Wallpaper magazine – August 2010 DIY cover ‘used a web interface to provide a set of elements for each reader to design their own personal front cover’ ’22,000 different digitally printed front covers’ (the reader becoming the creator, being able to make your own physical magazine) Scott Dadich ‘the magazine becomes more of a keepsake – print changes but it doesn’t go away’ Arrival of the Apple iphone 2007 gave more opportunity to earn money through digital publishing – before it was ‘limited to online advertising, paid-for pdfs and experiments with paywalls’ ‘the launch of the apple app store…presented publishers with a much better opportunity to charge people for digital content’ o ‘apps were seen as the digital equivalent of printed magazines; they could be sold singly or as part of an ongoing subscription’ o The New Yorkers app – success story? ‘after one year, 16 percent of the magazines sales are app-only, and Condé nast claims a good number od new rather than ex-print readers among them’
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Issues – screen size, business models (money) and production (visuals) o ‘fundamentalists from either side of the print-digital divide will tell you that app magazines are doomed to fail’ o Digital publishing suite (Adobe) a tool created so publishers can construct layouts/apps without having to know code – ‘an efficient but overbearing structure that is uncustomizable. The resulting apps always feel as though there are two layers of interaction – the rigid navigation, and the content itself’ o Does not work with all – same navigation system so with wired can cope with its ‘noisier visuals’ but ‘gentler’ the new Yorker ‘jarring relationship’ o Keys of a magazine is to make sure it is an easy and pleasant experience for the reader – legibility, navigation – and to establish a ‘visual character that reflects the content’ – do apps limit this? o There is a large difference between how ‘the same design devices and elements will appear’ in print and in digital. Backlit screen – ‘lacks the inherent subtlety of print that clarifies visual hierarchies on the page’ – lighter and brighter colours, smaller and larger text – ‘the hierarchy is obscured’ • ‘a key factor in an app’s success of failure will be its ability to link and share content with other parts of the digital world through social networking’ • ipads and tablets ‘the reality is that they are currently just one part of a growing trend towards multiple channels’ • experimental phase of magazine making, and what best suits the tone/content of the stories you are telling ‘today’s magazine makers must work in multiple channels and get the most out of each of them’ ‘it is more important than ever that we get under the skin of the stories we are telling and select the best way to share them with our audience’ • ‘from a business point of view this is a hugely challenging time. But creatively, the cross-pollination between these different channels is driving a new golden age of magazine making’ Wired USA (Scott Dadich) - ‘both demos lacked key elements – sports illustrated was all magazine content and little invention, while Bonnier’s mag+ was all concept and no magazine content’ - ‘Outlined issues to do with navigation and the challenge of designing for a dual-orientation’ – bonnier’s mag+ - Politics surrounding digital applications – competition between apple and adobe means there can be changes ‘jostling for control is a common feature of the technology world’ - (The constant development of technology means won’t these publishers/editors constantly be playing catch-up – chasing after technological innovation will the quality of design and content be lost?) - ‘ceding distribution control to the various app stores’ - ‘apps alongside not just magazine competitors but games, movies, music and books’ - all this loss of control through digital publishing?
Printed publications coverting into digital does not work overall, as we cannot fuffil the needs of print readers with digital versions – there is simply not a good enough replication of print experience. Starting from digital from scratch however can be very rewarding. Focus more on digital reading experience than replicating a previous design aesthetic. Maybe we just need to accept that print and digital are different, one is not going to transfer into the other, they can benefit each other and certainty the digitalization of design has benefitted printed publications. Letter to Jane USA -
“it was such a better way to read than a desktop screen. I knew I’d never have the budget for print and didn’t really know how to do print anyways, so I started to make an ipad magazine” ‘letter to Jane benefits from not starting life as a piece of print’ focusing on simplifying the navigation – not using all the effects available – letting the content shine through ‘I want the text to feel like it responds to the reader and that the magazine can adjust to the reader’s needs. That kind of interaction is subtle and takes more thought, but it creates a better overall experience’
Endurance publishing -
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digital technology has allowed publishers ect. ‘to be responsible for design and pre-press preparation of pages’ ‘brings the advantage of complete control but also adds responsibility for the final schedule’ ‘removed the divide between print and digital in production terms’ endurance publishing is ‘setting a 48- or even 24-hour deadline to create an entire magazine’ The Newspaper Club ‘open up print publications to non-designers’ designers soon starting using it as ‘a means of quickly producing small –run publications’ Using newspaper printers ‘significant downtimes when their otherwise busy presses were dormant’ – using this downtime and set up ‘an easy upload process for anyone to order very small print runs of tabloid newspapers’ Haymarket won the contact to publish ‘a daily programme throughout the Olympics and Paralympics’ had to be ready ‘by 7am every morning of the 16 Olympic days and 11 Paralympics days’ A great deal of planning went in beforehand but things would change a lot in the run, as well as daily. This quick turn around would not be possible without digital technology ‘they were great event guides, but also acted as perfect souvenirs’ ‘Googledocs played a key behind-the-scenes part in the project, allowing status checks on all aspects of production to be made via the web anywhere at anytime’