ModMag NY EDITION
CELEBRATING THE BEST IN MAGAZINE CREATIVITY
05.30.18
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#MODMAGNY
We’ve enlisted a broad range of speakers to share their work and thoughts about what it means to be making magazines today. They represent magazines in all their guises: old, new; big, small; mainstream, independent; local, global; print and digital. We’ll be celebrating the similarities and noting the differences. Underlying this mood of celebration we also have a theme threaded through the day: the life and death of magazines. We’ll hear about titles that failed, projects that had to adapt to new political contexts, and a magazine that plans to cease publication after six issues. We’ll meet an independent publisher who has moved into big publishing, and an art director who left a major publisher and is now producing his own newspaper, as well as the creative leaders behind two of the most essential magazines in the world today, The New York Times Magazine and MacGuffin.
WELCOME TO MODMAG NY EDITION
Welcome to the first New York edition of ModMag! After five London editions, we’re excited to bring the event here, to the other capital of Englishlanguage magazine publishing.
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These speakers and their work make a definitive case for the continued relevance of magazines in today’s ever-shifting media world. We hope you enjoy their presentations and find plenty to take back to your day-to-day work. And please let us know what your highlights were via Twitter, Instagram or email. Enjoy! THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE A GUIDE TO THE MODMAG DAY. FRONT COVERS OF EACH SPEAKER’S MAGAZINE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY EXCERPTS FROM THE MAGCULTURE JOURNAL
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10:30 OMAR SOSA, APARTAMENTO
The latest issue of ‘everyday life interiors magazine’ APARTAMENTO deserves recognition for reaching its tenth anniversary. Famously launched without a business plan, the mag has been an influential part of the independent magazine scene since its 2007 launch.
Like other titles that have survived such relative length, APARTAMENTO can easily be taken for granted. Every six months another issue arrives and the challenge is to maintain an element of the surprise of its initial arrival. The APARTAMENTO secret is to ignore such pressure and carry on doing what they enjoy. That’s how Omar, Nacho and Marco have approached the project from the start, and it’s a major part of their success. It is a happy magazine and readers get their own enjoyment from that – there’s a generosity of spirit that is infectious.
LAUNCHED 2008 BARCELONA /MILAN / NEW YORK BIANNUAL ISSUE 21 OUT NOW APARTAMENTOMAGAZINE.COM
One story from the latest issue exemplifies this; the team tracked down Joseph Holtzman, the man behind the hugely influential nineties magazine NEST. Writer Sabrina Tarasoff visits Holtzman at his upstate NY home and finds it decorated in the over-the-top, maximalist style celebrated in his magazine – it’s even called Camp Nest.
Although the two magazines have many differences, the similarities of approach are evident, and the APARTAMENTO team don’t need to labour the point. Instead they pay generous visual homage to the exuberance of their predecessor, the usually calm page design going haywire as they echo the patterns, colours and stripes used by Nest to avoid blank white space in its pages. – JEREMY LESLIE, MAGCULTURE JOURNAL, 02.06.18Z
THIS MORNING WE’RE IN NEW YORK AND AT WORK WITH GATHER JOURNAL’S CREATIVE DIRECTOR MICHELE OUTLAND AND EDITOR FIORELLA VALDESOLO. THE PAIR BEGAN THE FOOD TITLE TOGETHER IN THE SUMMER OF 2012, AND THIS WEEK MARKS THE RELEASE OF THEIR 1970S THEMED NINTH ISSUE.
BON APPETIT LAUNCHED 1956 NEW YORK EVERY TWO MONTHS BONAPPETIT.COM
WHERE ARE YOU TODAY?
MO: In my apartment in the West Village. FV: In my apartment in Gowanus, Brooklyn.
WHICH MAGAZINE DO YOU FIRST REMEMBER? MO: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. That yellow color... FV: I second NATGEO. Also LIFE. WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE MAGAZINE THIS MORNING? MO: THE CALIFORNIA SUNDAY MAGAZINE. FV: NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE.
HOW DO YOU MAKE SURE THAT THE RECIPES IN THE MAGAZINE RELATE IN SOME WAY TO THE EDITORIAL CONTENT? MO: Each issue of GATHER has
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE RECIPE THIS MORNING?
MO: Thinking about the Pineapple Blackberry Upside-Down Cake in our brand new issue coming out today. I want to have it for breakfast along with my coffee – it’s so delicious! FV: I could eat our Slinky Uni Pasta morning, noon and night.
a theme and we stick really closely to the theme when developing the recipes and all other content. We’re really don’t stray too far away from it so I think it keeps it all really coherent as far the editorial content. THERE ARE SO MANY INDIE FOOD MAGS NOW. DO YOU SEE THESE OTHER MAGAZINES AS COMPETITION, OR IS THE FOOD INDUSTRY BROAD ENOUGH TO SUSTAIN MULTIPLE INDEPENDENT TITLES?
MO: We definitely don’t see them as competition. It’s been a really exciting time in independent publishing over the last several years.
I feel like everyone, especially the food magazines, all have their own unique voice and angle. And I think the audience is there and has been really receptive to these different viewpoints on food.
FV: We take a more the merrier attitude! We love food and we love the print medium so it’s nice to see so many other like-minded creative people out there. WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING AFTER THIS CHAT?
MO: Taking my dog and our staff mascot, Isabel, for a walk. FV: Jumping on a crowded subway to head to a freelance editing gig. – MADELEINE MORLEY, MAGCULTURE JOURNAL, 05.23.16
11:00 MICHELE OUTLAND, GATHER / BON APPETIT
GATHER JOURNAL LAUNCHED 2012 NEW YORK BIANNUAL ISSUE 12 OUT NOW GATHERJOURNAL.COM
SINCE 2014 AIGA’S EYE ON DESIGN WEBSITE HAS ESTABLISHED ITSELF AS A RELIABLY OPINIONATED VOICE ABOUT GRAPHIC DESIGN, GRAPHIC DESIGNERS, AND THE ISSUES THAT CONCERN THEM. IT OFTEN COVERS MAGAZINES AND EDITORIAL DESIGN, SO IT SHOULD BE NO SURPRISE PERRIN AND HER TEAM ARE NOW LAUNCHING EYE ON DESIGN MAGAZINE. WE CAUGHT UP WITH HER AS THE FIRST ISSUE IS ABOUT TO BE PUBLISHED.
11:45 PERRIN DRUMM, EYE ON DESIGN
TELL US ABOUT YOUR TYPICAL MONDAY JOURNEY TO WORK.
I live in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and getting to my office in the city includes trains so crowded there often isn’t room to open a book or magazine—you’re lucky if you can squeeze close enough to grab onto a pole so you’re not doing the subway surf.
WHICH MAGAZINE DO YOU FIRST REMEMBER?
As far as formative mags go, it’d have to be ARCHIE COMICS and THE PARIS REVIEW, which I used to buy second hand in used bookstores. ARCHIE COMICS and THE PARIS REVIEW may seem like odd bedfellows, but it’s actually a pretty good indication of how wide my tastes range. WHICH MAGAZINE MATTERS TO YOU THE MOST RIGHT NOW?
It’s thrilling to see so many quality titles out there right now, but the one that stands out as the most unique and exciting is THE SMUDGE, produced by Tan & Loose Press. It’s a six-page piece of Risograph newsprint that’s always surprising. WHY LAUNCH A PRINT MAGAZINE WHEN YOU ALREADY HAVE A SUCCESSFUL WEBSITE?
I’m a writer, ephemera collector and daughter of a letterpress printer; I can’t pass a used bookshop without buying something old and musty. Which is all to say I love things printed on paper, and like most editors, I had an early and ardent love affair with magazines. After we brought on more globally-minded editors and writers at Eye on Design, we started to publish longer, more reported, and deeperreaching stories on broader topics. We found ourselves wanting to invest more time reporting on certain issues (sexuality, mental health, education, etc.), and while we still publish under those verticals on the site, we recognise that print offers the opportunity to really dig into one specific area from a variety of points of view and in a range of formats in a way the digital medium, or at least our site, just isn’t suited for.
MAGAZINE LAUNCHED 2018 NEW YORK THREE TIMES PER YEAR ISSUE ONE OUT NOW EYEONDESIGN.AIGA.ORG
HOW DOES THE NEW MAGAZINE RELATE TO THE WEBSITE – IS THERE SHARED CONTENT?
We’ll occasionally run a story commissioned for the magazine on the site, but only as a jumping off point to have a wider, ongoing conversation about the topic with our readers and audience on social. We’d never dupe content just to fill a void in the editorial calendar; we fortunately don’t need to operate that way. We’re lucky in that, as a not-forprofit, we don’t have a story quota to fill or advertisers to appease.
The first topic we’re turning to print to dig deeper into is “Invisible,” the theme of issue one. We’re looking at it from a range of perspectives, from the problem of underrepresentation within the design industry and the unsung heroes behind well-known designers, to code as the invisible language of design, with some visual fun and games in the mix. — HOPE BROTHERTON, MAGCULTURE JOURNAL, 03.12.18
THIS WEEK WE ASKED ALEXANDER TOCHILOVSKY, GRAPHIC DESIGNER AND CURATOR AT THE LUBALIN CENTER, TO SELECT HIS FAVOURITE MAGAZINES.
AN OLD ISSUE: SHOW, 1961
I really had a hard time picking between this one and an issue of NEST magazine, but the content of this one clinched it for me. The cover of this magazine is perhaps not the most memorable, but the interior more than makes up for it. Henry Wolf brilliantly art directed it
for three short years. He created what should easily be considered the American equivalent of TWEN — albeit it is relatively unknown today. For something that came out in the beginning of the 60s it feels incredibly contemporary, especially in its use of photography. I love so many of its details.
The transition from the front of the book—with the header twisting its way across the top towards the short edge, and jumping onto the opening of the well—is playful and smart. I love the way the opening of the well is signalled by a completely abstracted, blurry photo. This then comes into sharp, almost stark focus on the following spread. It’s really mind-blowing. NEW ISSUE: HUMAN BEING
Much in the same way SHOW carved a niche for itself, I see a lot of new vibrant magazines. This is one I like a lot. The design feels considered and convincing. There is a sense of earnestness about it. The articles are well crafted. The writing is good. The art direction of the fashion pieces is interesting, and different without being too trendy, or too esoteric. The typography feels right to me, with a nice level of fussiness which I appreciate.
AND ANOTHER THING: FLAIR MAGAZINE, JAN. 1951
I settled on one of the most memorable moments in a magazine I’ve ever encountered. It comes from the last issue of FLAIR, from January 1951.
ARCHIVE OPENED 1985 NEW YORK LUBALINCENTER.COOPER.EDU
The issue has a few amazing details, but this one takes the cake. The detail in question is a single spread of a beauty feature, called “Shades and Shadows”. The feature takes up exactly one solitary spread, consisting of a full bleed image across the spread and a headline with a subheading. That’s all. But, the ingenious part is that the text of the actual article lives at the bottom of the page, and is achieved —concealed if you will — by the use of a die cut to overlap and superimpose the bottom ¼ of the page. This leaves the expansive and airy feel the image at the top of the spread creates. It is so simple but so stunningly effective. — MADELEINE MORLEY, MAGCULTURE JOURNAL, 02.05.16
12:05 ALEXANDER TOCHILOVSKY, LUBALIN CENTER
“I am a big fan of older magazines, especially from the sixties, and am fortunate to have a dream job which allows me daily contact with some of the most memorable magazines ever made. The archive has many titles that I go back to time and time again. There are issues of Brodovitch’s PORTFOLIO, Lubalin’s EROS and AVANT GARDE, Gertner’s CAPITAL, Vignelli’s DOT ZERO, Lois’ ESQUIRE, Kalman’s INTERVIEW, and too many others to name. Here are some of my favorites.”
Since its debut bed-themed issue, MACGUFFIN has proven to be a real contender in the world of design magazines. It’s shown that it’s capable of longevity and growth, and that it’s no newbie that’ll simply fade into the background.
12:40 KIRSTEN ALGERA, MACGUFFIN
With staggering speed, the title has gone from one to watch to one that you can’t help but watch. In it’s latest issue four, themed The Sink, MACGUFFIN effortlessly continues to engage and charm readers.
With characteristic humour and style, it looks at the history of sinks, the architecture of sewers, but also at the idea of bottomless sinkholes where everything disappears. There’s also, of course, a piece on the kitchen-sink drama movie genre. As we’ve come to expect from the magazine, it pushes its theme in the obvious directions, but also – with Hitchcockian cunning – into directions you’d never quite expect.
I remember the first issue appearing in the post – a real curiosity filled with fresh and playful graphics, and a host of smart design writing. How great to find something with a sense of humour, but that’s also fiercely intelligent. The magazine’s concept of observing one ordinary design object per issue is solid, and although we’ve seen it before with DIRTY FURNITURE, the way MACGUFFIN deals with the idea is distinct and very much its own.
LAUNCHED 2013 AMSTERDAM BIANNUAL ISSUE FIVE OUT NOW MACGUFFINMAGAZINE.COM
The magazine proves that sometimes it doesn’t matter who has the idea first; it’s about who can carry the force of a good idea and really make it work. Others have earmarked MacGuffin as the next iconic art mag, and it’s easy to imagine a title that’s so specific and untethered to context becoming one of the most iconic reflections of contemporary design or art.
It’ll be interesting, moving forward, to see whether MACGUFFIN finds a way to deal with timely critique despite its restrictive and specific approach. But right now, it hopefully won’t change a thing, because it’s recipe works and it transforms even the most everyday of objects into the source of a page-turner. – MADELEINE MORLEY, MAGCULTURE JOURNAL, 04.12.17
PARK COMMUNICATIONS
ISSUU
PA R KC O M . C O. U K Our friends at Park have a huge range of print services available at their London plant, and have developed a speciality of printing independent magazines for both UK and US publishers. They really understand and value the indie sector, and as part of that appreciation they’ve become vital partners for magCulture, supporting our monthly magCulture Meets evening at the shop in London as well as ModMag.
A GIUIDE TO MODMAG SUPPORTERS AND FRIENDS
ISSUU.COM It’s a paradox that the vitality of todays independent print magazine scene is underpinned by digital services. issuu’s online publishing platform is a leading voice among these services, offering convenient, flexible, promotion and discovery to boost the global reach of print magazines. Take time to have a look at what they’re doing during the breaks at ModMag NY Edition today.
PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN N E W S C H O O L . E D U / PA R S O N S Opened in 1896, Parsons was the first school in the US to offer graphic design teaching, and is now regarded as one of the most prestigious art and design schools in the world. The enthusiasm of the Parsons team and a first sight of the Tishmann Auditorium was all it took to persuade us a New York edition of ModMag was possible.
COMMERCIAL TYPE C O M M E R C I A LT Y P E . C O M We were honoured to have Paul Barnes, one of the founders of Commercial Type, talk at the first ModMag in 2013, and since then the transatlantic type company have regularly supported the event, sharing the latest specimen sheets of their typefaces created with the publishing industry in mind. Cast an eye over any newsstand and spot their work.
EYE MAGAZINE EYEMAGAZINE .COM
ALLIANCE GRAPHIQUE INTERNATIONALE AGI-OPEN.COM AGI is an international memberbased group of graphic designers who meet annually in a different location. Alongside this annual congress, local members organise the AGI Open, a public event aimed at students. This year’s Open takes place in Mexico City from 28—29 September –details will be available online soon. We value design education and are delighted to support this year’s AGI Open.
This quarterly journal of graphic design is a favourite of ours. We’ve hosted their editorial team at our magCulture Meets events and art director Simon Esterson spoke at the first ModMag in 2013. Most recently we featured their issue 94 and its series of 8,000 unique front cover designs in our shop window. That design has been awarded by both D&AD and SPD this year.
VITSOE VITSOE .COM Without our friends at Vitsoe the magCulture Shop in London would be a lesser space in every sense. They were our first port of call when we were fitting out the shop, for the timeless Dieter Rams-designed 606 shelving that display our magazines, and for the 620 chair that makes for super-comfortable magazine browsing. Visit their New York shop on Bond Street to experience both systems.
WETRANSFER WETRANSFER.COM
AIGANY A I G A N Y.O R G Turning up in New York to organise a conference the scale of ModMag would have been a hopeless exercise without the support of AIGANY and its director of operations Stacey Panousopoulos. We’re hugely grateful for the advice and help Stacey and her team have offered over the last few months, and proud to be a part of AIGANY’s remarkable events program.
MAGCULTURE
NEWSPAPER CLUB
M A G C U LT U R E . C O M
N E W S PA P E R C LU B . C O M
When not organising ModMag, the magCulture team are busy helping clients produce magazines, writing reviews for our online Journal, and keeping the stock up to date at our London shop. Plus there’s our monthly magCulture Meets events, also at the Shop. What holds all these different parts together is our belief in the magazine as a thoroughly contemporary and relevant form. We Love Magazines!
The Newspaper Club want to make it as simple as possible for everyone to print their own newspaper. Non-professionals and professionals alike can use their digital service, just as we did when producing the newspaper you’re reading now. We printed 300 copies; you can choose to produce even a single copy if you want, using one of three different format options.
SHED LONDON SHEDLONDON.COM
SOUTH LONDON MAKERS S O U T H LO N D O N M A K E R S . C O M We first worked with David Marsden and his team as we developed plans for the magCulture Shop in London. The big black shelf and plywood storage boxes were all designed and built at their South London workshop. They also recenty built a new unit for our pop-up shop — a shelf in the form of a hinged larger-thanlife magazine spread.
For the last year we’ve been working with SHED London, supplying photography magazines for them to sell alongside a range of coffees and wines at their Haggerston shop. Venture beyond the shop and discover their shared exhibition space, canteen, workspaces and photographic studios.
WE LOVE MAGAZINES
Like most creative businesses, magCulture would find it difficult to operate without WeTransfer’s file-sharing service. Long-term supporters of ModMag, we also partnered with them on our recent podcast series. ‘What About..?’ examines the editorial process via interviews with editors of the best contemporary magazines, including The New York Times Magazine’s Jake Silvertsien and Christopher Iseneberg from Victory Journal. Listen here: bit.ly/2k6jGTd or search iTunes.
TODAY WE MEET INDHIRA ROJAS, FOUNDING EDITOR OF THE CALIFORNIA-BASED ANXY AS SHE AND THE ANXY TEAM START PLANNING THEIR THIRD EDITION. WHICH MAGAZINE DO YOU FIRST REMEMBER?
14:00 INDIE MAG SESSION
The first magazines I remember are from my student years at Parsons in New York. I had come to the US from the Dominican Republic, and was fascinated by the vast amount of publications available on the newsstands. NEW YORK magazine stood out to me, as it was a great way to get to know the city and the culture. I’m inspired by publications created by and for women. The eighth issue of RIPOSTE, with Ericka Hart was powerful—from the cover to her personal story. Also, the newly launched ROMANCE JOURNAL by studio RoandCo in New York. WAS THERE A PARTICULAR MAGAZINE THAT INSPIRED ANXY?
What inspired our approach with ANXY was the lack of publications in the market that covered mental health and personal stories through artful design and creative expression. The most popular mental health magazine in the US is PSYCHOLOGY TODAY, which tends to focus on advice, recommendations from therapists and other psychology-related concepts. We wanted to fill in the missing gap: expressing our inner experience. WHAT ARE YOU WORRYING ABOUT AT WORK THIS WEEK?
Many things! My work is a combination of everything involving ANXY, plus the design consulting I do for our clients via our studio Anagraph. There is a lot to balance. We have a few projects that are just starting and I want to get those in motion. Then, we just received new swag from our printers (orange totes and t-shirts!). I’m excited to ship those to our ANXY fans. – HOPE BROTHERTON, MAGCULTURE JOURNAL, 02.05.18
When we featured VICTORY JOURNAL back in 2012, the large-format unbound pages made an immediate impression. Smaller magazines are cheaper to produce and easier to distribute, but VICTORY have retained the large page size and recently moved to perfect-binding; this tenth issue weighs in at an impressive 164 pages. The Brooklyn-based editorial team – the mag is published by design studio Doubleday and Cartwright – have carved a lovely niche for their sports mag. Instead of stats tables and fanboy portraiture, VICTORY revels in the glory and disappointment of sport, in the personal experiences, stories and memories of participants, and does so primarily through photography and art. The issue leads with a feature about seventies sports team mascots, as created by Muppets staffer Bonnie Erickson; this is a typical VICTORY piece and provides the front cover parody of a celebrating sportsman. Like all great editorial ideas it’s so surprisingly simple it’s remarkable nobody’s done it before. From the full colour agony of the US Open, to Cheryl Dunn’s black and white reportage from the Kentucky Derby, we see sport from every angle. We also get to read. Full-page images dominate but texts unapologetically fill whole pages too, such as a 1964 report from ESQUIRE about a boxing match (starkly illustrated by David Rathman). The design is no-nonsense and functional. Monochrome and efficient, the single touch of flambouyance is the contents list, The Ten, which spells out the highlights in a list of words, some directly linked, some more abstract, teasing the reader about the content. Other drawn images include a beautiful series of sports images by Raymond Pettibon and a set of works by contemporary artists, including a collage using yoga mats by Alex Ebstein. VICTORY JOURNAL has developed into a heavyweight proposition in more than just mass; this new issue pulls together a strong range of visual stories that add up to an unclichéd and fascinating record of the reality of sport, bridging the gap between the tabloid superstar and our amateur attempts to join in. — JEREMY LESLIE, MAGCULTURE JOURNAL, 01.16.16
WE START THE WEEK IN NEW YORK WITH LINYEE YUAN AS SHE COMPLETES THE PRODUCTION OF THE LATEST ISSUE OF HER MAGAZINE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF FOOD. WHICH MAGAZINE MATTERS TO YOU THE MOST RIGHT NOW?
I first heard about a proposed new tennis magazine earlier this year, and immediately understood the possibility it presented. Among the independent sports mags there are plenty about football and cycling and others about motorcycling, running and extreme sports. Tennis is a popular sport with a cultural and historical context and a high participation rate. Why not a magazine? So here it is, the first issue of RACQUET. The cover sets the tone; the thirties poster-style illustration of Yannick Noah (by Mads Berg) announces a smart, enjoyable magazine that sits well alongside the other indie sports titles. Inside, too, is a familiar mix of reflection, history and passion with a nice line in tangential escape. The 70s and 80s tennis heydays are celebrated via fashion, ‘real’ tennis is explained, the Davis Cup is critiqued and the inherent elitism of tennis and tennis clubs acknowledged in a first-person piece. There are long-form pieces and pictorial pieces, illustration and photography are used intelligently throughout. An interview with Yannick Noah provides the ATP professional focus; unused tennis venue Forest Hills turns up as a music venue and a series of concert poster designs by Bill Sullivan; Craig & Karl illustrate a piece that brings together African-American sports icons Arther Ashe and Muhammad Ali. It’s an impressive first issue that promises a healthy future. In the UK we tend to focus on tennis only every July for Wimbledon. Try extending your interest with this new magazine. — JEREMY LESLIE, MAGCULTURE JOURNAL, 11.27.16
I also recently picked up CIVILIZATION and have been enjoying their provocative and thoughtful approach to creating a “lifestyle” magazine centred on the most deconstructed definition of a magazine— words on paper. It captures the feeling of living and surviving in New York City in this current moment. At the risk of sounding predictable, I’m also an avid NEW YORKER reader and it’s the one print magazine that I have consistently subscribed to and read for the past decade. CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR MAGAZINE IN THREE WORDS?
Design. Future. Food. WHAT LED YOU TO MOVE FROM DIGITAL-ONLY AND TACKLE THE FUTURE OF FOOD IN A MAGAZINE FORMAT?
I had been publishing online for three years and was still being confronted with the same questions around what is food design? Print magazines as a medium, offer an opportunity for people to get intimate with a topic — because our magazine is bi-annual, it means you have six months to read, page through and digest the content. The design and art direction is carefully considered – we’re the first print magazine about the future of food and it is important for us to work with creatives across disciplines and geographies to produce a “food magazine” that sets the tone and expectation for the reader. The designers and art directors, Eric Hu and Matt Tsang, come from the world of fashion and architecture and have consistently produced a visually provocative and engaging magazine that really highlights the printed medium with nuance and rigor. WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING AFTER THIS CHAT?
Answering some more emails. Eating a snack. Taking today’s magazine orders to the post office. Enjoying the sunshine! – HOPE BROTHERTON, MAGCULTURE JOURNAL, 05.15.18
FIVE MAGAZINES X 10 MINUTES
There’s a real flourishing of independent magazines right now and it’s very exciting to feel like MOLD is part of a movement. I am obsessed with MIGRANT JOURNAL and the way that they’ve been able to package a complex, political, but deeply human issue in such an interesting and engaging way.
15:00 EMILY OBERMAN, NO MAN’S LAND
WHAT’S IN NO MAN’S LAND, THE WING’S NEW MAGAZINE?
Our magazine has interviews, feature articles, photography, crossword puzzles and so on. Many contributors are our members and their friends, some of whom are writers, journalists and novelists. While the magazine is branddriven, we also have the credibility of the literature and journalism world. WHAT’S THE THINKING BEHIND LAUNCHING A PRINT MAGAZINE AT A DIGITAL-CENTRIC TIME?
We’ve been doing everything “physical first.” For example, we opened a physical space when a lot of people were launching websites. We believe that physical spaces and print media still have a lot importance to consumers. — INTERVIEW WITH THE WING FOUNDER AUDREY GELMAN, OBSERVER.COM, 11.23.17
LAUNCHED 2017 NEW YORK BIANNUAL ISSUE TWO OUT SOON THE-WING.COM/NOMANSLAND
Before I get into the magazine, here’s the important reason why it’s our magazine of the week… if not the month… if not the year: If 2014 was a year of food magazines, 2015 a year of pet magazines, 2016 was a year of new feminist titles. The trend away from light-hearted themes towards more vigorous and politically motivated topics that KRASS, GIRLS LIKE US and LADYBEARD have been exploring is encouraging weightier magazines to launch Kickstarter campaigns, of which MIGRANT JOURNAL and THE REAL REVIEW are two of the newest examples. MIGRANT JOURNAL gestures towards
the fact that print can circulate ideas across and outside of our self-imposed, online borders. It can circulate opinion, information and all-important fact in spaces far out of reach from dangerous cooperate interests.
The team plan a limited six-issue run and each edition will take a different theme related to migration as its starting point. Issue one looks at the spaces beyond the city through essays and reports; it explores what’s happening in the countryside, from the rural exodus in Japan to the shifting glaciers in the alps to undocumented spaces that migrants move through in Mexico. Its not just people, or even goods, that are in circulation. It’s energy, the Internet, the cables that flow. By emphasising this, MIGRANT JOURNAL asks a political question: if we build a wall to prevent migration, are we to cut cords too? The theme of ‘Across Country’ is timely; the editors consider the current refugee crisis in Europe and how it’s brought the countryside to attention. Syrians fleeing the war via Turkey and Greece move across the fields and landscapes of Europe, and as the editors note, ‘the forgotten rural land is the stage of our present migration tragedy, not the cities.’
LAUNCHED 2016 LONDON & ZURICH BIANNUAL ISSUE FOUR ABOUT TO LAUNCH MIGRANTJOURNAL.COM
The strength of the words is conveyed through mature design, which is in contrast to a title like WEAPONS OF REASONS where the force of the editorial can be undermined by its sometime coy visual elements. The politically motivated magazines of next year will use editorial design for asserting power and clarity.
MIGRANT JOURNAL is vigorously intelligent in the way it circulates ideas about the circulation of people and information today. – MADELEINE MORLEY, MAGCULTURE JOURNAL, 11.16.16
15:45 JUSTINIEN TRIBILLON/ ISABEL SEIFFERT, MIGRANT JOURNAL
MIGRANT JOURNAL explores the circulation of people, goods and information around the world and looks at the transformative impact they have on contemporary life.
Since leaving BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK four years ago
16:05 RICHARD TURLEY, CIVILIZATION
British creative director Richard Turley has worked in TV and now in branding. But if it seemed his awardwinning work at the weekly BUSINESSWEEK had worn out his editorial ambition, a series of recent editorial projects have proven otherwise.
LAUNCHED 2018 NEW YORK FREQUENCY UNKOWN ISSUE ONE OUT NOW
First was GOOD TROUBLE, a lively orange-and-black political broadsheet newspaper developed from a website with editor Rod Stanley (second issue due soon). Then there was his reinvention of MUSHPIT – already a fabulous editorial confection – as a contemporary glossy zine packed with the typographic language, social media and meme references familiar to anyone who has followed Turley’s social media channels. His designs lifted the magazine, matching the wit and invention of its existing editorial character. Now he’s co-founded his own publication with a couple of New York friends, Lucas Mascatello and Mia Kerin. CIVILIZATION is another newspaper-format publication. ‘I was totally inspired by GOOD TROUBLE,’ Turley told me recently, ‘I’d had such fun doing it I wondered after doing it whether I could do my own paper.’
‘Then at the start of the year I was in a magazine store and realised that the NY media had gone to sleep of late on actually covering New York. They’ve either scaled up to deal with Trump/ shitty men or closed down completely. So maybe… just maybe… there’s a bit of a gap in the market.’
The result is a 16-page publication that aims to reflect its home city, New York. ‘We want it to feel like spending a day in the city, with fragments of life interrupting you. Little scenes playing out, random conversations.’ The densely-packed pages are a visual treat, instantly recognisable to anyone who read Turley-era BUSINESSWEEK or the latest MUSHPIT. Deliberately wordy – ‘I think we’ve become over reliant on pictures,’ says Turley, ‘so there’s only one big image, in the the centre spread’ – it is a text collage, with stories spread axcross the pages and interrupting each other. Flashes of infographics, display fonts and spot yellow break the otherwise plain black and white pages. It’s a glorious experiment, but perhaps the most intriguing thing is how its design effortlessly refers to a previous generation of editorial design. Many elements – including the front cover – are almost timeless, with a logo by Paul Barnes and artwork by Kurt Woerpel. It’s this balance between classic editorial design and the pulling apart of the same that is so exciting, the end result sits comfortably alongside the long history of the alternative press. It’s a fascinating project, quite unlike anything else currently available and for that reason CIVILIZATION is our Magazine of the Week. – JEREMY LESLIE, MAGCULTURE JOURNAL, 04.25.18
WHERE ARE YOU TODAY?
WHAT CAN YOU SEE FROM THE WINDOW?
Did I say there were great views from parts of the building? Unfortunately, the magazine’s art department is not one of them. Most of what I can see is the office building next door.
ARE YOU A MORNING OR EVENING PERSON?
Both! (Otherwise known as someone who gets little sleep.) I used to be an evening person but I’ve had to adjust my views on that because I have a six year old boy who gets up before the sun rises and likes company. If I had my way though, I’d definitely stay up late and sleep in. I’m most productive at night.
The cover artwork and photography vary greatly in terms of how much time we have to produce them. It can be anywhere from three weeks to three days. We start to design our covers approximately 12 days before the magazine appears in the paper. Our editor in chief, Jake Silverstein, sometimes rejects ideas, but he’s very visual and often comes back with a different idea.
THE WEEKLY NEWS MAGAZINE COVER HAS REESTABLISHED ITS STATUS AS DESIGN ‘EVENT’. WHY?
Over the last decade or so, as magazine publishing has moved more and more into the digital space, covers didn’t seem to have a home outside of print. Putting the cover of a magazine on the publication’s home page wasn’t a good idea because that tied you even more to the print edition.
After we settle on a concept Jake’s input is less about accepting or rejecting what we show and more about helping to shape it. Since we are on a weekly deadline we often show things that are in progress to make sure there are no surprises at the end. Despite all our best efforts occasionally things go wrong, I don’t think our process is any more tumultuous than that of most weekly magazines. It’s just the nature of the beast.
Recently, with the popularity of social media, it feels as if magazine covers have found a new home. People are consuming content in small bites on their phones throughout the day in between whatever else they’re doing and the covers are a quick visual hit that people can react to and share. THE WEEKLY FLOW OF NYTMAG COVER DESIGNS APPEARS EFFORTLESS, BUT I’M SURE THAT PROCESS CAN SOMETIMES BE FAR FROM SMOOTH.
Ha! I’m glad that it appears effortless. On rare occasions when we quickly hit on an idea or a visual that works, it is. More often we create multiple covers for a story.
LAUNCHED 1896 NEW YORK WEEKLY NYTIMES.COM/SECTION/MAGAZINE
WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS WEEK?
WHAT ARE YOU LEAST LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS WEEK?
WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING AFTER THIS CHAT?
I love to get the first run copies of the magazine. They come in on Tuesday mornings the week before they’re published. I always check for them when I arrive at the office. This week we have a typographic cover that I’m excited about. We worked with Sawdust on it. It’s the first time we’ve collaborated with them. I’m looking forward to seeing how it printed.
Trying to get up to speed on everything that happened while I was out of the office. I keep hoping that one day we’ll just publish a ‘special double issue’ right before the holiday and then shut down for the week. I fear it’s not in the cards, though.
Getting a large cup of coffee before plowing through a bunch of unanswered email. Lots to catch up on! — JEREMY LESLIE, MAGCULTURE JOURNAL, 01.0.15
16:30 GAIL BICHLER, THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE
I’m in my office on the 6th floor of The New York Times building in mid-town Manhattan. It’s a beautiful Renzo Piano designed building with floor-to-ceiling windows. There’s great light in the office and some amazing views from various parts of the building.
NICHOLAS BLECHMAN THE NEW YORKER LONDON, 2017
INTERVIEW WITH JEREMY LESLIE, MAGCULTURE
SINCE 2013, MODMAG HAS BEEN AN ANNUAL EVENT IN LONDON, A GATHERING OF GREAT MAGAZINEMAKING TALENT FROM THE UK, THE US, AND EUROPE, ORGANIZED, CURATED, AND MODERATED BY JEREMY LESLIE OF MAGCULTURE. AHEAD OF TODAY’S MODMAG NY EDITION, SPD TALKED WITH JEREMY ABOUT THE DAY. WHAT IS MODMAG, AND WHY ARE YOU DOING A NEW YORK EDITION?
ModMag started as a launch event for my 2013 book ‘The Modern Magazine’. It brought together a number of the people I interviewed in the book for a one-day “live version” in London. Like the book, the aim was to highlight the great work being done in editorial design — despite the business challenges the industry faces there are great magazines being made and I felt that work was being overlooked. We’ve now organized it five times, and it’s gotten bigger and better each time to become a part of London’s design landscape, a barometer of magazine innovation and creativity. When Adam Moss, editor-in-chief of New York magazine, joined the London lineup in 2014 I remember him saying there was nothing like ModMag in New York, so I’ve had a local edition in mind for a while. London and New York are the two big capitals of Englishlanguage magazine publishing so it seems a natural extension. WHAT CAN WE EXPECT TO SEE AND EXPERIENCE AT MODMAG?
You can expect a busy day of talks from a carefully selected series of speakers: people from big magazines, small magazines, new magazines, established magazines. I program it like a print magazine; each speaker is carefully briefed and the running order and timings are designed to vary the pace and flow of the day – it’s never just a run of portfolio talks. You’ll be inspired and buzzing at the end of the day, excited to get back to your own work! IS THIS ONLY ABOUT INDEPENDENT MAGAZINES? WHAT CAN FOLKS WHO WORK AT BIG CORPORATE MAGS LEARN AND TAKE AWAY FROM MODMAG?
I believe in great magazines, whether they be famous international brands or tiny independent start-ups. The lineup reflects this: from THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE and BON APPETIT to leading indies APARTAMENTO and MIGRANT JOURNAL, we hope to inspire everyone working or hoping to work in publishing.
WHY ARE YOU STILL SO EXCITED ABOUT THE STATE OF MAGAZINE PUBLISHING?
For the same reason I was always excited: magazines are the root source of graphic design, where content and presentation combine to create unique, uninterrupted, experiences. I still get surprised by new launches and the ideas behind them. TO WHAT EXTENT DO YOU THINK THAT INDIE MAGAZINES HAVE REVITALIZED OR REPRESENT THE FUTURE OF MAGAZINE PUBLISHING?
The new generation of indies have reminded us of the essential power of print as a medium: its physical and tactile qualities, the way it engages multiple senses (sight, touch, smell, sound) and, perhaps most vitally today, the way printed content can’t be altered or deleted. It’s on the record! The influence of the indies is everywhere. One of our speakers, Michele Outland, is the perfect example of this. She’ll be talking about her own indie, GATHER JOURNAL, as well as her new role as creative director of BON APPETIT. IS MODMAG JUST FOR DESIGNERS AND ART DIRECTORS, OR WILL THERE ALSO BE EDITORS AND OTHER MAGAZINE MAKERS?
The line between design and editorial has always been a loose one and has become increasingly irrelevant. Both designers and editors will be speaking; we don’t draw a distinction. We’ll be hearing from some of the best magazinemakers around and hope the audience will reflect that – designers, editors and publishers will all get a lot from the day. IN THE PRESS RELEASE FOR MODMAG YOU SAY THAT “THIS EDITION OF MODMAG WILL FOCUS ON THE LIFE AND DEATH OF MAGAZINES.” HOW WILL THAT MANIFEST ITSELF AT MODMAG?
The overarching idea is to celebrate what we do as magazine makers, but threaded through the day is this theme of the life and death of magazines. Magazines reflect their time, they inevitably come and go and we need to understand that and not freak every time another title shutters.
ADAM MOSS NEW YORK LONDON, 2014
PENNY MARTIN THE GENTLEWOMAN LONDON, 2016
Herb Lubalin’s trio of 60s magazines are acclaimed for their typography and political boldness, but failed for reasons beyond their maker’s control. Alexander Tochilovsky from the Lubalin Centre will be telling that story. New magazine NO MAN’S LAND was conceived to support womanonly space The Wing, but its arrival coincided with the #MeToo movement and as a result has developed into a far larger project. I’m looking forward to hearing from Pentagram partner Emily Oberman about her work on that. And Pan-European indie MIGRANT JOURNAL is halfway through its self-defined run of six issues; after six it will be mission accomplished and they’ll cease publishing. FROM YOUR POSITION AS A MAVEN OF MAGAZINES, WHICH THREE MAGAZINES ARE REALLY KILLING IT RIGHT NOW?
Three is difficult! I’ll stick to ModMag examples. I’d point you to MACGUFFIN for the way a magazine should always surprise you; to MUSHPIT (designed by Richard Turley) for its astonishing alignment of editorial and design intent, and to THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, as a reminder to always aim for the absolute best. – INTERVIEW BY ROBERT NEWMAN FOR SPD.ORG, 05.05.18
BERTIE & CHAR MUSHPIT LONDON, 2015
MAGCULTURE MODMAG NY EDITION IS PRESENTED BY MAGCULTURE IN COLLABORATION WITH PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN AND AIGA NY
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS FOR THEIR SUPPORT OF MODMAG NY EDITION:
CURATOR: JEREMY LESLIE PRODUCER: STEPHANIE HARTMAN
CONFERENCE
PUBLICATION
THANK YOU
Presented by magCulture in collaboration with Parsons School of Design and AIGA NY Hosts: Jeremy Leslie & Liv Siddall Event design: magCulture Studio Volunteers provided by AIGA NY
Edited and designed at magCulture (Jeremy Leslie and Sam Carballo) Texts from the magCulture Journal, various writers as credited Printed by Newspaper Club
All our speakers, Lucille Tenazas, Stacey Panousopoulos, Odellia Lucius, Mark Fitzpatrick, Ewan Leslie, Kim Bost, Emily Ross, Rosie Garschina, Jamie Atherton, Robert Newman, Keisha Dean, Mark Adams, Rupert Evans-Harding, Tommy Dobrzynski, Mike Spriggs, Lesley Allan, Sarah Snaith and Steven Heller.
PREVIOUSLY AT MODMAG 2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Tyler Brûlé, MONOCLE Omar Sosa, APARTAMENTO Richard Turley, BLOOMBERG
Kai Brach, OFFSCREEN Veronica Ditting, THE GENTLEWOMAN Peter Houston, Magazine Diaries Jeremy Langmead, Christies Simon Lyle, HOT RUM COW Danny Miller, LITTLE WHITE LIES David Moretti, WIRED ITALIA Adam Moss, NEW YORK MAGAZINE Rob Orchard, DELAYED GRATIFICATION Danielle Pender, RIPOSTE Elana Schlenker, GRATUITOUS TYPE Pekka Toivonen, FAT
David Lane, THE GOURMAND Andrew Tuck, MONOCLE Grashina Gabelmann, FLANEUR Sophie Lovell, UNCUBE Louis-Jacques Darveau,
Kirsten Algera, MACGUFFIN Christoph Amend, ZEITMAGAZIN Terri White, EMPIRE The LADYBEARD team Rebecca Nicholson, Vice Jack Self, REAL REVIEW Paul Gorman, ‘The Story of The Face’ Kai von Rabenau, MONO.KULTUR Tony Rushton, PRIVATE EYE Penny Martin, THE GENTLEWOMAN Seb Emina, THE HAPPY READER Gail Bichler, NEW YORK TIMES
Isabel Seiffert & Justinien Tribillon, MIGRANT JOURNAL Lydia Garnett, ACCENT Tony Brook, UNIT EDITIONS Anja Aronowsky Cronberg, VESTOJ Owen Pritchard, It’s Nice That Takahiro Kinoshita, POPEYE Liv Siddall, ROUGH TRADE Mirko Borsche, Bureau Borsche Panel: indie mags Francesco Franchi, LA REPUBBLICA James Hyman, The Hyman Archive Nicholas Blechman, THE NEW YORKER
BUSINESSWEEK
Patrick Waterhouse, COLORS Rosa Park , CEREAL Justine Picardie, HARPER’S BAZAAR Simon Esterson, EYE Davey Spens, BOAT Cathy Olmedillas, ANORAK Kati Krause Scott King Steve Watson, Stack David Jacobs, 29th Street Paul Barnes, Commercial Type Panel: women’s magazines
THE ALPINE REVIEW
James Fairbank, MONDIAL Bertie and Char, MUSHPIT Matt Phare, SHORTLIST Charlotte Heal, KINFOLK Ibrahim Nehme, THE OUTPOST Kati Krause Scott Dadich, WIRED US
MAGAZINE
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