• Temporize
• Web log
  2009
• 05/01/09

This morning my first issue of Voiceworks magazine went to print. Due to not managing my time well enough, and learning the ropes of a new publication, I was up until 4am getting it ready for collection this morning and came across a hurdle I had not anticipated. Poetry.

Laying out pages containing poetry proved to be a lot trickier than I had expected. I had designed a system and styles which I thought would work across all content of the magazine, whether it be a fictional pieces or part of the columns, and could work without the heavy use of graphics or supporting images.

Unfortunately poems did not fit into this system as well as I had hoped. Instead of being a piece of copy to be moulded and crafted to fit on a page, a poem already has its form and needs to be placed ‘as is’ onto the page. As I found out, this tends to cause a problem with space and the relationship with other elements. I still managed the get everything done, but I think this will need revision before I start on the next issue, and I’ll need to do a bit or research on laying out poetry.

I’d be interested to hear if anyone else has come across a similar situation.

I was just reading through a article over at Web Monkey about what they consider does and doesn’t work on the mobile web, which has listed magazines and newspapers in the ‘doesn’t’ category due to screen restrictions and battery limitation.

The interesting thing I find here is that the services that are listed in the ‘doesn’t’ category as see as things “the mobile web isn’t, and perhaps never will be, very good at”, which I find  unimaginative and  short sited. While the battery limitations is one that faces any mobile device, what about the screen size? Yes, I know its no DPS, and I’m sure reading the small text on the go may give you a headache, but no more than reading a novel on the tram might. And while magazines as we know them might not suit current portable devices, as we have seen in recent years, magazines have a knack for re-inventing themselves in order to take advantage of whatever distribution methods are currently available. ( this is a magazine, PDF-mags )

As much as I love the internet, email and the 100’s of RSS feeds that arrive in my reader each morning, there is nothing that will ever beat receiving a package in the mail, addressed by hand and covered in stamps. Especially when it contains magazines!

I finally got around to ordering a copy of the colophon magazine Colophond, which was the contents of said package. A great little publication to tie in with the 2007 symposium.   The other was What’s Next, the new incarnation of Galerie Papers. As stated on the cover sheet,

“What’s Next takes a challenging new approach to tackling important developments in print media”

One of the main things I liked about Galerie Papers was the discussions opened up between prominent figures in the publishing and magazine industries. Thankfully, this is the main idea behind What’s Next. Conveyed in a series of conversations, the magazine focuses on the future of the publishing industry deliverd as a dialog between leading publishing and printing experts .

As well as Issue 2 of the Now Now publication WON just getting its second issue, I was surprised/happy to see Many Stuff have also gotten their long awaited publication together. It’s quite funny to realise that 10 years ago I was thinking the internet would spell certain doom for magazines, but as we’ve all seen, it’s pretty much been quite the opposite. I’m quite looking forward to seeing what the Boicozine/Millimeter publication looks like. [above: WON#2 / below: ManyStuff#0]

Jeremy over at magCulture has a great section called ‘How similar is similar?‘ in relation to different magazine titles looking the same, but what about when a magazine copies itself? After looking through some old issues of WIRED the other day, I was struck by a sense of déjà vu upon finding an issue from 1997 … Gizmodo seems to have also noticed.

Melbourne based blog Now Now has put together a freely distributed magazine called WON. Distributed quarterly, the publication is available in most capital cities around the county. There is a complete distribution list here.

I had the folks from K.W. Doggett drop by the other day to show us some of their new products, one of which was their new Envirocare range, a 100% unbleached recycled paper. As an example they had with them a copy of Get This!, a really cool new magazine from Sydney, which is all printed on this great stock using vegetable based inks. Very impressive.

I just stumbled upon Joe Kral’s Flickr page, which houses a massive collection of magazine and book covers. Very nice. Via the most excellent Bevel and Boss.

I’ve been noticing the “Current Issue” air freight sticker on more and more of the international titles at the newsagent recently, but it wasn’t that I went looking for a certain title online that I stumbled upon Selectair. For those of you who, like me, read about all the fun and interesting tiles on magCulture, Boicozine and the Colophon website with envy, this site is gold! No more waithing 3 months for them to reach out shores via sea freight, Selectair deliver a massive selection of international titles to Australia (as the name suggests) via air freight. Just be prepared to pay a little extra …

Adrenalin was probably the first magazine that really made me want to design magazines. I came across the first issue while I was studying in 1999 and fell in love with it. While in London in 2001, I went to visit the Adrenalin office, and meeting the team behind it all only seemed to affirm it as my favorite magazine ever. After leaning that is had been bought by Diamond Publishing in early 2005, I became a little worried. I noticed the change in the publication itself before ever hearing about it. What had happened to Mickey Boy G’s select use of Helvetica, Helvetica Condensed, Citizen and Dot Matrix fonts alone throughout the publication? Gone. I then found out about the acquisition and it wasn’t long after that the magazine disappeared off the shelves completely. Sad times.

But the show goes on. Mick Gibbons, then Creative Director of Adrenalin, now runs The Stool Pigeon along with Phil Hebblethwaite. The Stool Pigeon is an independent tabloid sized music newspaper. Printed 5 times a year, the publication is distributed throughout the UK, as well as France and the US.

The rest of the Adrenalin crew have stuck together and now publish the surf/skate/snow magazine Huck, which comes out 5 times a year and is available across Europe in English, German, French and Italian.