August 11, 2011
Magazine of the week
5 Comments
Magazine of the week: Kasino Creative Annual
Regular followers of magCulture will recognise my longstanding appreciation of the publications produced by Helsinki’s Kasino team. Their Kasino A4 magazine was a highlight of the early days of this site, and after that closed the launch of Kasino Creative Annual last year was another intriguing publication (and Magazine of the Week again here). Now they’re back with a second edition of KCA, and again they’ve made something very special.
Read more
August 8, 2011
Magazines
No Comments
Out now: It’s Nice That #6
Issue six of blog spin-off It’s Nice That is available now and stars magazine hero George Lois – that’s him on the cover, above – as well as the usual host of creatives and their work. A personal highlight is a brief interview with British artist Tom Phillips about his Humument project (after the jump) and its recent ipad app spin-off. I’ve always loved this – it’s a rare example of a project that is both conceptually interesting and beautiful to look at. Well done ITN for adding it the mix this issue.
Read more
August 8, 2011
Exhibitions/events
2 Comments
Counting down to the weekend– 120 hrs to go
As mentioned here briefly last week, Steve and I are making a magazine in 48 hours this weekend at the South Bank Centre as part of their Festival of Britain celebrations.
We’ll be firing up our laptops Saturday morning and leaving with a complete set of PDFs for print on Sunday evening. Somewhere inbetween we need to create content – which is where you come in. We have a team of volunteer magazine makers working alongside us but are looking for vistors on both days to help us record the many showcases and workshops taking place. The theme for the weekend is ‘Power and Production’ (hence the magazine idea) so there’ll be lots of transport and technology-based events, plus the ongoing Festival of Britain celebration.
Come and find us – we’ll be situated on level two of the Royal Festival Hall overlooking the ballroom, just indoors from Nelson Mandela. We’re interested in all contributions – photos, drawings, writing – from all age groups. Events over the weekend include a cycle=powered cinema showing ‘I’m Alright Jack’, a print workshop, a panel discussion led by Evan Davies and a hydrpgen=powered car. More programme details here.
During the following week the Newspaper Club will be printing the finished publication, which will then be distributed at the South Bank Centre the following weekend (20/21 August).
There’ll be further details about how you can help us on the blog later this week.
August 8, 2011
Books
1 Comment
Reading in 4 Dimensions
Andrew’s just published an essay titled ‘Reading in 4 Dimensions’ that looks at the current state of book publishing but many of the points to do with permenance and the sacred status of print apply to magazines too. It’s available for the Kindle (and for the iPad Kindle app).
Buy it here.
August 5, 2011
Out now
No Comments
Out now: Shellsuit Zombie #2
A rallying call for young design graduates arrived at magCulture recently in the form of issue two of Shellsuit Zombie. Their workshop/event/publishing programme can be compared to other groups like It’s Nice That and YCN (both of whom have new magazines out now, more soon) but the Shellsuit team have a more polemical approach to encouraging graduates to do their own thing.
Read more
August 5, 2011
Magazine stores
4 Comments
Welcome back, GmbH
Last night in Glasgow the GmbH magazine store re-opened at a new address. Looks like a really well-designed presentation of a broad range of titles. The downside if you’re not in south west Scotland is they’ve suspended their online service for now.
But welcome back nonetheless – we need real stores to spread the word. You can find GmbH at The Lighthouse.
See more here.
August 5, 2011
padCulture
The Big iPhone
No Comments
padculture 05.08.11
Catching up on a few recents apps and stories…
mono.kultur have a lovely free iPad app version of their recent ECM issue. Highly recommended.
The New Yorker is far and away the most succesful Condé Nast app – see the top five figures here.
The mono.kultur and New Yorker apps share a simple approach to their content, unlike so many magazine apps. But Khoi has found an even worse example of ‘burdensome and user-unfriendly interfaces’.
A comparison of the numbers of apps the main US publishers are selling.
SPD recently held an iPad event in New York featuring five people behind recent magazine apps. Read reports here.
August 4, 2011
Out now
No Comments
Out now: The Green Soccer Journal
Issus two of The Green Soccer Journal has been out a few weeks now, ready for the imminent new season. It comes with two cover versions – above Patrick Viera, and after the jump Mamadou Sakho, players related to the issue’s focus on French football. Highlights include Peter Saville and Carlo Brandelli disucssing the game; a behind-the-scenes shoot at French football’s legendary Clairefontaine training centre; a look at French ex-pats playing in New York. My favourite? A taxonomy of refs whistles (after the jump). The magazine is a very welcome addition to football publishing.
Read more
August 3, 2011
Journalism
No Comments
CR column, August 2011
My latest column for Creative Review appeared in their August issue while I was still away. In it I look at the naming of magazines including Monika, Wired, City, Little White Lies and Carlos. More about the August issue here.
August 3, 2011
New magazines
No Comments
Mollie Makes
People often ask me what’s the best way to launch a new magazine. There’s no simple answer of course, and every attempt to provide an answer leads to more questions, but two key factors are making sure your idea is strong and easily communicated, and start small – forget the mega-launch.
Read more