Monday, November 2, 2015

Modern Magazine Conference 2015

*Notes on Simon's Talk*


On Thursday 29th October, the annual Modern Magazine conference took place in Central Saint Martins, Kings Cross. The event was introduced by Jeremy Leslie, the founder of Magculture, who started the day by considering what he describes as ‘the new normal’ - this being the "post digital era" in which collaboration between digital and print in the industry is prominent. Leslie continued to  discuss the endless amount of talks around the subject of print media and independent magazines, and the realisation that the industry is in a permanent state of fluctuation - evidenced through those who gave talks at the conference...


David Lane / The Gourmand Magazine / "A manifesto for a magazine"



The Gourmand is an award winning, biannual food and culture journal filled with "creative, timeless and exclusive" content, with each issue featuring 120 pages of "specially commissioned words and images." The founder, David Lane, gave his talk on the typography used in his journal and its origins. He spoke of how for the first issues of the journal he used type belonging to type foundry Monotype before he contacted them in desire to collaborate with them in creating a custom typeface for the publication. The collaboration happened and in that "Gourmand Grotesque" was created. 
The most significant point of Lane's talk was the bespoke nature of the journals content, be that in print or online. When visiting The Gormand's website, the option is given to go "on paper" or "on screen." By going on paper, the journal is able to be seen in double page spreads, as featured in the magazine - whereas going on screen directs you to a combination of curated content and work. This is because lane believes there are things you can't reproduce in print, and things you can't reproduce digitally.



Andrew Tuck / Monocle / "How to reflect a print brand in audio"





Monocle, launched in 2007, is a magazine briefing on global affairs, business, culture, design and much more. Andrew Tuck focused his talk on how he took the print brand into the audio sector. He spoke of the personal connection they had established with their audience, and how radio and podcasts could take that connection further, allows the magazine to do "something interesting." They decided to have a single sponsor for each show as they didn't want to dilute the brand or its reputation, instead opting for just a few advertisement slots stating ‘this show is sponsored by…’ for example. The podcasts began as monthly, before progression to weekly and then daily. Monocle now also has a 24-hour radio station.


Grashina Gabelmann / Flaneur / ‘Inside a unique editorial process’

Flaneur is a nomadic, independent magazine focussing on one street per issue. Grashina Gabelmann first discussed how all the content of the magazine comes from collaboration during two months on location. The magazine is edited, assembled and designed back in Berlin, however for the launch they always return to the street location. 
Gabelmann also spoke of the Flaneur online platform, on which they have a section called
Unprintables’ - this being a collection of music and films created during the process of making an issue.



Sophie Lovell / Uncube / Adapting the print experience online’



Uncube is a new digital magazine for architecture "and beyond." Although the magazine exists only online, Lovell spoke of the ever questioned digital vs. print. She says "This is something people ask me about all the time. It’s not a competition though, these are two completely different things." Uncube brings the two together via webpages formatted to visually replicate the double page spread of print on an online platform.
They theme each issue because they believe today we consume information in clusters as a natural instinct. Lovell states "If you’re on a mission to re-think publishing, then it’s not just the medium you have to re-think, but it’s also the structure." It is for this reason that the magazine has two separate areas: a blog section for more textually informed pieces, and then online issues which are limited to 250 words, yet have a stronger visual presence.


Louis-Jaques DarveauThe Alpine Review / "The magazine as a platform"

The Alpine Review is an independent magazine, featuring content that is interest-diverse with no subject specific restriction. Louis-Jaques Darveau, the magazines publisher and co-editor, explains the idea of the magazine as a platform,  and how platforms can be seen everywhere - creating networks and communities. This is what the primary concern of the magazine has been since its start. 













James Fairbank / Mondial / "Transferring Rapha’s brand content from digital to print"


The head of branding at Rapha, James Fairbanks, discussed how their brand was transferred into online and into a printed publication. He says "We set out in 2004 to try and make content both online, in film and in print, that’s revered by professionals in their field." By doing this, Fairbanks believes their content can be appreciated by many in different fields - which in turn reaches a wider audience and promotes their sport in doing so. Making people love cycling is the aim. 











Bertie and Char Mushpit / "From zine to glossy…"



Mushpit started out as a zine, funded by Bertie and Char's student loans, and has now transformed into more of a glossy magzine, at least aesthetically. The content is very much driven by the girls' feminist ideologies. Their aim is to find a way make fashion "something less about advertisement, and more about political awareness and relevancy."


The magazine has a very "cut-and-paste" aesthetic, "ripping-off" Vogue and Heat magazine, but with a satirical twist. Mushpit went "bigger and glossier" because they felt the format would be more exciting for photographers, and they wanted to escape the supplement-visual. The girls also wanted more space, within taking the magazine digital - saying "As soon as you put Mushpit online, it just becomes content. The thing that makes it funny is that we’ve spent all of this time and money (that we don’t have). That’s a whole part of the joke. That IS the joke.




Matt PhareShortlist / "Creativity in free magazines"



Shortlist is a magazine created in 2007 by four men who identified the men’s magazine market was in decline. They wanted to produce something with strong content and poster-like covers. 
After creating Shortlist, they made a version for the women's market - Stylist - focusing on creativity and business. 
After collaborating on an issue with Nigella Lawson as the feature and guest editor, more opportunity for collaboration came around. However, through this collaboration came the desire for the masthead to be changed and played on illustrated covers - which at first was a big decision, but actually found they "enjoyed the immersive-ness of it."
Share spoke of how working on 10 covers at once allows them to be creative, and because the magazine is free it means they enter a lot of awards because "that gives you credibility, so we want strong covers for that," for which they have won many awards. 



Charlotte Heal / Kinfolk / "Behind the scenes of a redesign"


Kinfolk is a "slow" lifestyle magazine, exploring ways for readers to "simplify their lives, cultivate community and spend more time with their friends and family." Charlotte heal spoke of her practice as a whole to start, talking of how this affected the ways she worked within different briefs. 
For Kinfolk,  she described the brief as being "very different." The idea of "shaking up" the magazine being daunting to her because of the love had for the publication - so whatever she did would make a huge statement. The magazine wanted to adopt a more mature aesthetic to extend the range of content and voice.  To achieve the redesign, Heal said it was case of evaluating what was working and what wasn't, finding "a way to move forward without leaving people behind." 
In order for the magazine to progress without affecting the readership's connection, Heal kept many things the same, such as the colour palette and stock, and focus on making subtle changes that had substantial affect - such as overlapping the masthead with the photograph on the cover. By using these small changes  she was able to "elevate the design and to create a sense of energy and life."

Scott DadichWired US / "The past, present and future of Wired"



Scott Dadich spoke of the importance of understanding where the readership consume content from, having developed and designed a platform for tablets to find only 11% of the readership viewed it here, with 70% coming from the website. The Wired website was then designed to work on phones for easy consumption in a time when people are always on them, yet still reflect the successful  physical magazine on the online platform. Dadich identified that there are things print can do that online platforms cannot and vice-versa.










Kati Krause / Writer and editor / "What websites must learn from magazines"

Kati Krause also spoke of the importance in designing specifically for different platforms, in that online platforms should never imitate print. 
"When I talk about what digital magazines mean now, I talk about three things: it means mobile (pointing to her phone). The second characteristic is that they’re mutli-platform. It’s inevitable. Finally, the third is that it’s unbundled. These three things go against what a magazine is, it’s counter-intuitive. A magazine needs space, you can touch it, it’s about this idea of being one bundle, one thing."
Krause discussed the allowance of the different sectors, being that print allows for depth, whereas digital allows for immediacy. 


No comments:

Post a Comment