We Make Mags

Earlier in the year, I stopped making mags for a while in order to take a holiday in New York.

All went splendidly – we stayed in a lovely place in Brooklyn, saw all the major sights and quite a few minor ones too. It was about time to come home and make some more mags when, all of a sudden, Iceland blew up. Didn’t see that one coming.

Filling our time with whatever we could find that didn’t cost money and thankful that, in spite of a raised eyebrow while we were packing, my macbook had made it into the hand luggage, we resigned ourselves to an extra week on holiday (I can almost feel your sympathy beaming through the internet…). During one afternoon of blog browsing, I noticed this call to action on Andrew Losowsky’s Magtastic Blogsplosion website.

This is an open call to designers, writers, photographers, illustrators, art directors and anyone else who is stranded by the ash cloud, and would like something to do.

If there’s one thing my ol’ ma taught me, it’s that when life gives you volcanoes, make magazines. And so we shall.

If you’re out there and interested, email me and tell me what you do. I’ll then give you an assignment to complete today/tomorrow. Depending on how long this thing lasts, we’ll work the rest of it out from there. The copyright will remain yours on anything you produce, I just ask for permission to include it in the currently-untitled ashcloud magazine (working titles include Grounded, SkyFail and Someday We’ll Fly Away.)

If you’d like to be a part of the core creative team who will put together this impromptu publication, let me know as well. The only criterion for any contributor is that, like me, you have to be stuck somewhere unintentionally.

If all goes well, the results will be published, probably via MagCloud and/or the Newspaper Club, and any proceeds sent to a charity that helps mitigate the effects of climate change on human populations. After all, we have to repent somehow.

Who’s in?

Continue reading ‘Stranded magazine’

Just spotted this rather lovely looking project via @twitsplosion – sadly we were too late to get our hands on a physical copy of the first edition but, if you want to check it out, you can buy the PDF for the modest fee of £3

A nice and varied set of typographic treatments pulled together on the Design Me Too blog (@designmetoo on twitter)

Reminds me a little of the Type Tarts project from the UKType site (our entry was Bellevue du jour, by the way!). You can buy the posters at Old Tom Foolery should you wish. I certainly do.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-10689931

Nice that the value of typography is being discussed on the BBC site – regardless of whether you agree with Tom’s take. For one thing, I would say typography was not the biggest problem I had with the movie Avatar.

If you like magazines and magazine design, you may well already be aware of the MagCulture blog run by Jeremy Leslie. You may or may not be aware that Jeremy has been guest posting for the splendid fellow bloggers It’s Nice That. Go check it out!

Flicking excitedly through my copy of It’s Nice, That vol 3, I spotted the work of John Paul Thurlow who has been busy re-rendering some of his favourite magazine covers as part of a project that will result in a limited edition book and exhibition.

Magazine designers love their covers and there is something about the meticulous process of redrawing these Mac-generated disposable works of art that really appeals.

Seb Lester is the man behind the Soho Gothic typeface we used for the MDDUS magazine FYi. In addition to creating this typeface he also produces some rather splendid hand crafted lettering which you can peruse on his own typographic folio website.

You’ll also find scans of his working roughs which I always find fascinating, a scrapbook of found type and links directing you to various places which stock his prints.

For my money, this is the most coherent and elegant proposal for what the digital magazine should be. Not only that but he shares my lack of enthusiasm for the seemingly ubiquitous page-turning effect!

Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

Spotted on Magtastic Blogsplosion

Here at CMYK towers, we’ve just taken delivery of our newest title for the MDDUS. Called Practice Manager, it’s a 16 page magazine for those who run medical or dental practices in Scotland. We do the design and also handle the print and distribution side of things.

I’m pleased to say it’s the first of three titles which the MDDUS will be launching with CMYK over the next few months so watch this space for more details!

Part of the motivation for launching this title was the success of FYi which we launched for the MDDUS last year. This title was very well received and also made it to the shortlist for best magazine design in the business & professional category at this year’s PPA Scotland awards.

These titles also demonstrate a clear understanding on the part of the MDDUS of how to implement the magazine as a marketing tool. By giving away genuinely useful expertise and insight in these titles, they have the reader’s full attention and can make a persuasive argument for becoming a member.