Problem – What will I change?
The nature of stylepress magazines makes it difficult for them to make full use of the advantages of moving content online. How can graphic design make help move content online while keeping everything good about the physical stylepress magazine?
Central Proposition:
How can stylepress magazines take advantage of the currently trending shift to digital or mixed distribution while retaining the tactile experience of a physical object.
/
How can communication design principles be applied to stylepress magazines to exploit the advantages of online content while retaining the tactile experience of a physical magazine?
Abstract:
Draft:
In the context of today’s largely digital media sphere, magazines can no longer be defined, as tradition has, by the bound and printed format. The opening line of David Rankins 2006 book The Last Magazine states plainly “magazines as we know them, are dying”. The current trend of digitizing magazine distribution holds potentially enormous gains but equally as significant perils, particularly for the stylepress magazine and the integrity of its audience experience.
Rankin theorizes that visually and physically engaging, creative high-end style and culture magazines, referred to as the stylepress, will be the last printed magazines. Stylepress magazines engage the audience through the tactile experience of the physical magazine, with innovative layouts and well considered tactile properties. A shift to digital distribution may well undermine the tactile stylepress experience or risk it’s extinction. My research aims to explore possible distribution models and design solutions to take advantage of new technology whithout undermining the properties of a stylepress magazine.
Research methods I will utilize include analysis and comparison of existing material and reading of key texts theorizing the future of what is now the print industry such as “The Last Magazine” by David Renard and “The End Of Print” by David Carson.
From this knowledge, I intend on developing a magazine format and distribution model that is catered for the unique needs of a stylepress magazine, retaining the user experience and essence of a magazine while challenging the audiences perception of what a magazine can be.
Revised:“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, Idn magazine (Vol. 16, No.5, pg. 19) claims the famous Dickens opening line as the perfect metaphor for todays publishing industry. New technology poses both massive opportunities and equal pitfalls for the magazine industry and we as designers, will define how this technology is used, received and what it means for the future of the printed magazine.
David Renard theorizes that the stylepress, defined as “physically and aesthetically engaging chroniclers of trends”, will be the last printed magazines in existence. He justifies this by claiming that through their physicality, attributes such as format, materials and packaging, they transcend the boundaries of traditional publications. This poses particular difficulty for stylepress magazines that wish to move their content online for more cost effective distribution.
By exploring the physical and digital magazine formats through analysis, comparison, reading of key texts and personal interviews, this research intends to work towards developing a format and distribution model for stylepress magazines that takes advantage of the offerings of digitally based content while retaining the physical, tactile experience central to the stylepress philosophy.
Background Analysis:
Adrian Shaughnessy claims that a close study of magazines will reveal mostly everything there is to know about graphic design. The regular periodicals of various subject matter chronicle trends and development in communication design and so will they reflect the movement of design into the digital age.
This opinion is mirrored by Jeff Jarvis, cited by Renard (2006), who states that technology has defined how people understand a magazine and now that technology is changing, the printed format should no longer be the defining factor of what we see as a magazine.
The introduction of digital distribution comes with it a multitude of possibilities and conveniences for magazine publishers. Patrick Burgoyne presents (Leslie, 2003) that online distribution reaches a larger international audience, can present a wider range of content, is more cost effective and is not limited by regular release dates or advertiser demands. However, he also states that many publishers went head first into an unfamiliar market, sometimes losing millions, without understanding the intricate set of challenges faced in translating a print publication for the internet.
Renard theorizes that digital publishing has thus far failed to meet the common expectation to end printed magazines because the reader still desires a physical experience from a magazine and catering to these “tactile relationships” is one key to consumer adoption. Renard states that the fast access of information expected by the media consumer of today, has inevitably fated mass printed news media to purely online distribution, but once this shift is complete, high-end magazines referred to as the stylepress will be the last remaining printed magazines due to their exploitation of the aforementioned tactile relationship with the audience.
Jan Van Mol is quoted as calling the stylepress magazine “the canvas of the magazine artist”. Renard explains this by stating that the stylepress magazine is not tied to the content of news and current events, it is instead a result of the creators whim, becoming a creative output of the creator(s). Van Mol states that this creative output focuses on content experience offering multiple ways of experiencing content through design and writing teams, offering a back door to the how and why of the magazine. The experience of the content then becomes transformative and inspirational for the audience, creating value for the magazine over and above the information or content itself.
In my research I have discovered a number of distribution methods currently being utilized in stylepress and culture magazines incorporating various levels of online content. These range from the free exclusively online distribution of the irregularly published style zine SoKo with no direct advertising, to Auckland based Pilot magazine, who deal solely in a bi-annual printed format sold for a current price of $15NZD, with some limited advertising. In a comparison of these two formats, the theories of Renard and Van Mol seem to ring true, as I myself will browse a Pilot magazine many years after I purchase the publication, while though I enjoy and posess many of the SoKo pdf files, I rarely open them or lend them any thought.
Soko magazine, the indie e-zine of Buenos Aeries design studio Pogo Creative in its handling of the digital format has fallen into the trap outlined by Burgoyne (Leslie, 2003), though the design is of a high standard, the format has failed to engage the audience and be true to integrity of the magazine experience. When downloaded, SoKo comes to the consumer as a regular PDF file, similar to a pre-print magazine. In the design of this format, the physical experience of the page is lost but the unique abilities of a digital format are not exploited, manifesting the ‘worst of both worlds’ in some sense.
Contrasting this, the format of Pilot magazine creates an engaging reader experience through the considered use of varying stocks and printing techniques such as metallic overprint, all in a thick perfect bound volume and indeed they have stated themselves that design and typography play a large role in presenting their content to the best effect. However this distribution model is expensive and offers no extended experience such as multimedia material beyond the very limited content posted on their blog, largely unrelated to the printed content. Pilot have announced that an overhaul of the online blog is currently in process to create a website that better reflects the quality and elegance of their magazine as well as showcasing the magazine itself, showing that they have identified this as an issue.
In stark contrast to the traditional codex style browsing and reference offered by Pilot and SoKo, many stylepress magazines have disregarded a traditional bound format with examples appearing as varied as an “A4 block of wood” (Leslie, 2003) or a matchbox containing 20 miniature woodcut prints (Shaugnessy, 2008). Jacovides claims that ‘creative tycoons’ have not come together on this level to oppose the mainstream view since the post-punk record labels of the 1970s (Leslie,2003). These unoconventional approachs to magazine format are self reflexive, challenging the consumers idea of what a magazine can be, while also increasing the value of the magazine as a physical object and further engaging the audience in the tactile reading experience.
Throughout it’s history, the stylepress has made use of various innovative design and formats to engage the reader. I am inspired by this relatively short but rich history to continue the tradition of innovation in stylepress and take full advantage of the possibilities offered in a mixed digital/print distribution model.
The nature of stylepress magazines makes it difficult for them to make full use of the advantages of moving content online. How can graphic design make help move content online while keeping everything good about the physical stylepress magazine?
Central Proposition:
How can stylepress magazines take advantage of the currently trending shift to digital or mixed distribution while retaining the tactile experience of a physical object.
/
How can communication design principles be applied to stylepress magazines to exploit the advantages of online content while retaining the tactile experience of a physical magazine?
Abstract:
Draft:
In the context of today’s largely digital media sphere, magazines can no longer be defined, as tradition has, by the bound and printed format. The opening line of David Rankins 2006 book The Last Magazine states plainly “magazines as we know them, are dying”. The current trend of digitizing magazine distribution holds potentially enormous gains but equally as significant perils, particularly for the stylepress magazine and the integrity of its audience experience.
Rankin theorizes that visually and physically engaging, creative high-end style and culture magazines, referred to as the stylepress, will be the last printed magazines. Stylepress magazines engage the audience through the tactile experience of the physical magazine, with innovative layouts and well considered tactile properties. A shift to digital distribution may well undermine the tactile stylepress experience or risk it’s extinction. My research aims to explore possible distribution models and design solutions to take advantage of new technology whithout undermining the properties of a stylepress magazine.
Research methods I will utilize include analysis and comparison of existing material and reading of key texts theorizing the future of what is now the print industry such as “The Last Magazine” by David Renard and “The End Of Print” by David Carson.
From this knowledge, I intend on developing a magazine format and distribution model that is catered for the unique needs of a stylepress magazine, retaining the user experience and essence of a magazine while challenging the audiences perception of what a magazine can be.
Revised:“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, Idn magazine (Vol. 16, No.5, pg. 19) claims the famous Dickens opening line as the perfect metaphor for todays publishing industry. New technology poses both massive opportunities and equal pitfalls for the magazine industry and we as designers, will define how this technology is used, received and what it means for the future of the printed magazine.
David Renard theorizes that the stylepress, defined as “physically and aesthetically engaging chroniclers of trends”, will be the last printed magazines in existence. He justifies this by claiming that through their physicality, attributes such as format, materials and packaging, they transcend the boundaries of traditional publications. This poses particular difficulty for stylepress magazines that wish to move their content online for more cost effective distribution.
By exploring the physical and digital magazine formats through analysis, comparison, reading of key texts and personal interviews, this research intends to work towards developing a format and distribution model for stylepress magazines that takes advantage of the offerings of digitally based content while retaining the physical, tactile experience central to the stylepress philosophy.
Background Analysis:
Adrian Shaughnessy claims that a close study of magazines will reveal mostly everything there is to know about graphic design. The regular periodicals of various subject matter chronicle trends and development in communication design and so will they reflect the movement of design into the digital age.
This opinion is mirrored by Jeff Jarvis, cited by Renard (2006), who states that technology has defined how people understand a magazine and now that technology is changing, the printed format should no longer be the defining factor of what we see as a magazine.
The introduction of digital distribution comes with it a multitude of possibilities and conveniences for magazine publishers. Patrick Burgoyne presents (Leslie, 2003) that online distribution reaches a larger international audience, can present a wider range of content, is more cost effective and is not limited by regular release dates or advertiser demands. However, he also states that many publishers went head first into an unfamiliar market, sometimes losing millions, without understanding the intricate set of challenges faced in translating a print publication for the internet.
Renard theorizes that digital publishing has thus far failed to meet the common expectation to end printed magazines because the reader still desires a physical experience from a magazine and catering to these “tactile relationships” is one key to consumer adoption. Renard states that the fast access of information expected by the media consumer of today, has inevitably fated mass printed news media to purely online distribution, but once this shift is complete, high-end magazines referred to as the stylepress will be the last remaining printed magazines due to their exploitation of the aforementioned tactile relationship with the audience.
Jan Van Mol is quoted as calling the stylepress magazine “the canvas of the magazine artist”. Renard explains this by stating that the stylepress magazine is not tied to the content of news and current events, it is instead a result of the creators whim, becoming a creative output of the creator(s). Van Mol states that this creative output focuses on content experience offering multiple ways of experiencing content through design and writing teams, offering a back door to the how and why of the magazine. The experience of the content then becomes transformative and inspirational for the audience, creating value for the magazine over and above the information or content itself.
In my research I have discovered a number of distribution methods currently being utilized in stylepress and culture magazines incorporating various levels of online content. These range from the free exclusively online distribution of the irregularly published style zine SoKo with no direct advertising, to Auckland based Pilot magazine, who deal solely in a bi-annual printed format sold for a current price of $15NZD, with some limited advertising. In a comparison of these two formats, the theories of Renard and Van Mol seem to ring true, as I myself will browse a Pilot magazine many years after I purchase the publication, while though I enjoy and posess many of the SoKo pdf files, I rarely open them or lend them any thought.
Soko magazine, the indie e-zine of Buenos Aeries design studio Pogo Creative in its handling of the digital format has fallen into the trap outlined by Burgoyne (Leslie, 2003), though the design is of a high standard, the format has failed to engage the audience and be true to integrity of the magazine experience. When downloaded, SoKo comes to the consumer as a regular PDF file, similar to a pre-print magazine. In the design of this format, the physical experience of the page is lost but the unique abilities of a digital format are not exploited, manifesting the ‘worst of both worlds’ in some sense.
Contrasting this, the format of Pilot magazine creates an engaging reader experience through the considered use of varying stocks and printing techniques such as metallic overprint, all in a thick perfect bound volume and indeed they have stated themselves that design and typography play a large role in presenting their content to the best effect. However this distribution model is expensive and offers no extended experience such as multimedia material beyond the very limited content posted on their blog, largely unrelated to the printed content. Pilot have announced that an overhaul of the online blog is currently in process to create a website that better reflects the quality and elegance of their magazine as well as showcasing the magazine itself, showing that they have identified this as an issue.
In stark contrast to the traditional codex style browsing and reference offered by Pilot and SoKo, many stylepress magazines have disregarded a traditional bound format with examples appearing as varied as an “A4 block of wood” (Leslie, 2003) or a matchbox containing 20 miniature woodcut prints (Shaugnessy, 2008). Jacovides claims that ‘creative tycoons’ have not come together on this level to oppose the mainstream view since the post-punk record labels of the 1970s (Leslie,2003). These unoconventional approachs to magazine format are self reflexive, challenging the consumers idea of what a magazine can be, while also increasing the value of the magazine as a physical object and further engaging the audience in the tactile reading experience.
Throughout it’s history, the stylepress has made use of various innovative design and formats to engage the reader. I am inspired by this relatively short but rich history to continue the tradition of innovation in stylepress and take full advantage of the possibilities offered in a mixed digital/print distribution model.
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