Co Creation

Stappers: Co Creation & The new landscape for design.

"Were ancient community arts not about co-creation? Did farmers co-create by cultivating the commons? Has mass production taken away the mentality to co-create? Did the digital revolution restore the desire for it? Does the restoration of co-creation have the potential to change the world for the better? Do miners co-create, or bankers? Co-creation is a method for people to regain their ability to design their lives, their environments." Open Design Now

Analysis 3

A Magazine - Belgium

http://www.amagazinecuratedby.com/

Bi-Annual
187 Pages - 230 x 295

A Magazine is a bi-annual publication that uses a different international fashion designer as the 'curator' of the magazine each time. The magazine becomes a statement about that designers personal ideas and design interests.



Nice Magazine - UK

































Issue 1 (Spring 2002)
230 x 300


"The ultimate experiment in magazine format?" Jeremy Leslie, magCulture (2003)

I haven't been able to find much about this magazine on the internet but it's in a couple of books I've read recently including my key text The Last Magazine. Issue 1 came as an A4 block of wood with no pages or content whatsoever besides a printed advertisement on the back of the wood. The idea may seem strange but it is claimed as a bestseller for all outlets who stock it by Jeremy Leslie in his 2003 book magCulture. This reflects a theme of self reflexivity I've seen in many stylepress magazines, commonly this theme is used to express their own role as magazines, point out the ever increasing obsolescence of printed magazines or even poke fun at mainstream titles.


Eat Magazine - Japan

Issue 7 - Nov/Dec 2001


This issue of Eat magazine focuses on packaging and imitates chocolate on the front cover, with an imitation packaging sleeve. Interesting way of reflecting a theme through format/design.

They Shoot Homos Don't They? - Australia







Issue 5 + Online preview of 1 & 5
148 x 210

"Four men are involved in running the magazine. It began because they were dark about the convergence of homo culture with mediocrity—some call it the mainsteam.
"There is a concerted edffort in the editorial direction to encourage people to read between the lines and negotiate their own politics."
http://www.theyshoothomosdontthey.com/

They Shoot Homos Don't They? is an Australian magazine for "men and their admirers" (Renard). The content focusses on gay and art culture but is not made to exclusively appeal to those in the gay community. The magazine is split into 3 'folders' titled 'homos', 'shoot' and 'they don't they', each folders title page attempts to link the content of the folder through a common theme, as the 'brotherhood' of contributors often offer quite differing . It's glossy format lures the audience into a false sense of security preceding it's assault of edgy content. Their website presents a preview of each issue, hosted on their own website, allowing more freedom than that seen with online publishing services such as Issuu.

VIV Magazine Interface

Cool idea that goes a lot further towards realizing the potential of digital magazines and recreating the intimate relationship between reader and magazine in a digital space. Though I question some of the specifics from a typography/readability perspective. It would be interesting to see how this would react to the iPads rotating display. The possibility of more interactive or reactive content could be interesting to explore with a concept like this.

Pentagram on IPad magazines

http://new.pentagram.com/2010/01/five-ways-the-ipad-will-cha-1/

Interesting in relation to stylepress as a genre. Many of the things outlined in this article as the future of (digital) magazines seem to contradict or compete with a lot of the defining ideas of stylepress but ends by loosely reaffirming Renards prediction of stylepress as the future of printed magazines.

Poster Quotes

A few quotes that summarise what my project is about, aiming to fit one or two on the poster.

"Tablet computers, PDAs, third generation mobile phones... the 'killer' application, set to replace the printed word. All have failed thus far because the inveterate book reader or magazine reader still seeks a physical experience." David Renard

"It's about the single magazine a reader bought. It's about being part of a league of publications that are willing to take a risk and step forward in the next movement of editorial design." Timba Smits

"Mass market periodicals are unsatisfactory, too often functioning like a communications relay for the political and economic or industrial authority. This inevitably leads to individual initiatives" Angelo Crimele

"Not only has there never been such a variety of titles catering for so many markets, they are also successfully pushing the boundries of editorial design. It is not necesarily within the mainstream that this is happening—although there are exceptions—it is within the countless independent magazines from all over the world that have been launched in recent years" Charlotte Rivers. Mag-Art, Innovation in Magazine Design.

"They are not published to cater to focused demographics or marketing whims but because their publisher, editors, designers, photographers and artists are compelled to satisfy their own desires and inspire others." Steven Heller, Art director of New York Times Book Review.
"Doing an independent magazine... you really can present your own vision of what you think, not only a magazine should be but what you think your viewpoint on the world should be"  Andy Pickering

Format Analysis

I previously analysed Soko Magazine, Pilot Magazine and Idn magazine to test their alignment to the definition of Stylepress. The purpose of the following analysis is not to define whether a magazine sits within stylepress, but to explore format, define it's usefulness in stylepress and inspire ideas for my own stylepress project.

Is Not Magazine

"among other things, an experiment in publishing real content where people expect to find advertising. It’s a design challenge and a reading experiment; a paper saving device; a bastion of editorial complexity and a grey area for the discerning communal reader."

Size: 1500mm x 2000mm
Format: Printed, poster
Regularity: Irregular
Issues: 11
Still in print: No
Online representation: Website with blog and short wrap up of topics covered in various issues.

Advantages:
- Easily accesible content
- Saves paper and printing costs.
- Encourages not only individual reader participation but community participation
- Challenges current ideas of a magazine.
- Still can be sold as a 'takeaway' magazine to become a treasured object.

Disadvantages:
- Open to damage or theft from public space.
- Unable to be easily flicked through or read
- Does not engage the user in the third dimension of the printed object.

McSweeneys, Issue 16

"Each issue of the quarterly is completely redesigned. There have been hardcovers and paperbacks, an issue with two spines, an issue with a magnetic binding, an issue that looked like a bundle of junk mail, and an issue that looked like a sweaty human head."

Size: 227mm x 150mm
Format: Printed, three fold hardcover book with a story printed on cards and hair comb.
Regularity: Quarterly
Issues: 40
Still in print: Yes
Online representation: Extensive website with store and summary of each physical issue


Advantages:
(General)
- A constantly shifting format continues to challenge (even regular) readers every issue
- As a literary journal, the format reflects the subject matter well, challenging an audience that are ready to recieve these left-field format ideas and also relating to the issue of sustaining print (an issue relevant to writers as well as designers)
(Issue 16)
- The three fold method encourages further interaction beyond the typical page-by-page flip and offers multiple avenues for exploration.

Narrowing Definition

Trying to compile my findings thus far in one place. Most of my research seems to be confirming the same things thus far unfortunately.

Based on the defining features identified by others and repetitive themes in my research, I've made my own set of defining philosophies for Stylepress. After writing them I realized they are essentially Renards factors but slightly reworded and prioritized. Below are what research has lead me to believe is the result of these philosophies. Number 4 is part defining factor, part derivative of factors 1, 2 and 3. As with Renards factors not all of them need to be present to be defined as part of the Stylepress although in my opinion it is essential to have one of the leading two factors featuring prominently.

Primary Factors
1. Driven by the creators desire to realize their vision.
2. Experimental or unconventional approaches aesthetic and format.

Almost Primary (not quite secondary) Factors
3. Focuses on user experience and timeless content.
4. Exists in a bubble separate to mainstream media

Derivatives:- Inevitably Becomes a personal manifesto of the creator/team, declaring their tastes, philosophies, interest and ideas. (1)
- Becomes inspirational to the viewer. (1, 2, 3)
- Often realized in a physical form. (1, 2, 3, 4)
- Recontextualizes the magazine as an art object rather than news media. (2, 3, 4)
- Can talk directly to niche groups such as graphic designers. (4)

What it means for my project:
1. The perfect vessel to declare a position on current graphic design issues.
2. Ideal oppurtunity to experiment with new ideas and formats unrestricted by current audience requirements.
3. Allows the oppurtunity for a stylepress magazine to set a 'standard' for creative practice by (2.) inspiring the decisions of the reader to (4.) influence their creative practice.

Further refining CP

Trying to refine my central proposition to go beyond just web and print relationships, I want to explore through graphic design how to engage the reader in the experience of the magazine without tying it down to any specific format

Key Points to Summarize
- Engaging format
- New Ideas
- Stylepress as an experimental design space
- Inspire others/Act as manifesto


Original
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?

1. How can the experimental nature of stylepress magazines be used to inspire creativity while exploring new relationships between print and online content?

2. How can stylepress magazines be used as an experimental design space to explore new ideas in relation to how audiences engage with different formats?

3. If Stylepress magazines were used as an experimental space to explore the advantages of digital and physical formats, the resulting outcome could act as a manifesto declaring a specific position or announcing new approaches to the topic.

Articles I've been reading
Mostly posting them for future reference

Art Manifestos and their applications in contemporary design.

Article about how material produced by designers defines them right down to client communication. Interesting in relation to the self-indulgent and inspirational qualities of stylepress. If done properly a stylepress magazine exploring format could become an inspirational manifesto declaring a specific position on format and reader experience.


Unit Editions
A publishing venture involving Adrian Shaugnessy from Mute magazine. Though not defined as a magazine, this venture aligns heavily with stylepress philosophies and in my opinion can be viewed as a type of Stylepress magazine. Interesting in relation to pushing the definition of what a magazine could be, blurring the line between magazine, publishing company and the graphic designer as artist (works created to be sold for their design qualities).

Andy Pickerings Stylepress

Screen shot from creative mornings video.

Idea: Inspiration Zine

Send around a journal and get creative practitioners to add something to one page (e.g illustration, collage) and publish it into a zine of collective inspiration. Aligning with stylepress philosophy but going beyond the inspiration of a single editor/creator while taking on the creation role myself to help understand the creative process of a magazine.

A wild blogpost appears.

To be honest I started reading this blog post by Al Tepper because I thought the name (Gutenberg, Berners-Lee, Aristotle, McLuhan, Chomsky, Rubel & Zappa's Eyebrows all walk into a blog post...) was quite funny. But after reading into it a bit I found his opinions very interesting. His view on the internet as a return to an oral tradition (through social networking etc) and as the fall of the "gatekeepers of information" seems to fit very well with the definition of stylepress and lends me to the idea of perhaps, crowd sourcing the content for a stylepress magazine, so that rather than the editor/creator being the inspirational force, the magazine becomes a representation of the collective inspiration of many similar to websites such as designspiration and ffffound. This also becomes a two way relationship between consumer and creator, something not currently seen in stylepress. This could also be a good way of exploring the relationship between stylepress and the internet, forging new connections between the printed book and online material.

Interview - Renard & Frost

Awesome interviews with David Renard and Vince Frost, expanding on some of the concepts talked about in The Last Magazine. Renard more clearly states the four key differentiating factors of stylepress magazines:

Physicality
Unusual Design
Provocative & Timeless Content
Dedication to particular groups

Renard states that he chose the examples that fill his book mostly from his personal collection, but said they had to meet at least 2 of the aforementioned criteria to qualify. All of these 4 aspects of stylepress are at the whim of the editor/creator as described in previous posts.

"Doing an independent magazine... you really can present your own vision of what you think, not only a magazine should be but what you think your viewpoint on the world should be" - Andy Pickering

Stylepress, the contemporary manifesto?

"Either you create the product the market expects, or you make the magazine that you believe needs to be made, for you and you only." Angelo Crimele, creator of Magazine

"We were ambitious arrogant and idealistic about the content and the way we were putting it out as a magazine" Rankin, co-creator of Dazed & Confused

It allowed me freedom with the layouts. It taught me a great deal about the subtle relationship between the designer and the 'artist'." Damian Jaques, Art director/Co-founder of Coil.

"This is a chance to enjoy their shared indulgence for large format imagery, and obsessive typography." EndemicWorld.com on Studio magazine.


"Make something you love, not something you think people need." Andy Pickering, Pilot editor.

"Mainly created with the objective of having our own space to play with." Pogo on Soko zine.

"They are not published to cater to focused demographics or marketing whims but because their publisher, editors, designers, photographers and artists are compelled to satisfy their own desires and inspire others." Steven Heller, Art director of New York Times Book Review.

From all my research, the most repeating theme seems to be the tendency of stylepress magazines to be driven by the creators desire to make something for themselves that becomes filled with their ideas and enthusiasm. The idea of filling a document with the ideas and interests of one group reminded me of the early modernist manifestos and how they reflected a lot of similar ideas to the stylepress in the way they presented their content and opposed the mainstream view. By being filled with the creators ideas and interests, the stylepress magazine becomes a kind of manifesto of the creator(s), expressing and publishing their style, philosophy, interests and ideas in one piece. I found a section in The Last Magazine where Steven Heller draws the same comparison, saying that independent magazines have always been tied to creators searching for "their own publishing nirvana". Heller uses the magazines and manifestos of futurism, dada and surrealism as the beginning of his chapter on twentieth century alternative publishing, leading up to the stylepress.

I'm really interested in stylepress magazines as an experimental space for the designer, where new ideas can be generated. The early modernist manifestos and magazines reviewed by Heller shared the experimental ideas and emphasis on personal philosophy of the stylepress, and they made a huge impact on art, design and culture. The futurist and dada type layouts sought to emphasize content in a way not previously seen, attempting to solve something they had deemed to be an issue of their time. If the experimental and inspirational qualities of the stylepress were used as a framework to experiment with ideas relating to print and online media (an issue of our time), perhaps new solutions could be generated, that may influence how other areas of design approach print and online media.

From: Merriam Webster Online Dictionary

Further Revising CP/Abstract

CP:
If the relationship between print and online content was explored in the context of stylepress magazines, new approaches could be developed that would be relevant to many areas of design.

Abstract:

"Magazines as we know them are dying", is the opening line of David Renards 2006 book The Last Magazine. This opinion seems mirrored not only by other writers but by magazine publishers who continue to shift the emphasis to online and smart device content. However Renard offers one last hope for printed magazines, explorative pieces of indulgent design, valued for their high quality physical form and inspirational ideas held within.

Self-indulgent creators who are more interested in realizing their own “publishing nirvana” than creating something to meet market demands, Renard says, drive the stylepress. The resulting magazine becomes more a piece of fine art, exploring innovative ideas in design, the designer free to explore as an 'editorial artist'. By exploring new ideas and challenging the norm, the magazine becomes inspirational for the reader and has value as an object above the value of it's content.

The unique challenges and unrestricted nature of the stylepress creative process lend itself to be the ideal place to explore the relationship between online and printed content, to create innovative new strategies that could influence thinking in other areas of design.

Reformat.no

Reformat Home
Reformat Editors Letter




Browsing this website has made me realize that my research is not just applicable to stylepress magazines, but could be applied in a number of situations. The nature of stylepress as a self-expression of the design team, allows a restriction free space to explore innovative ideas. The ideas that fill the pages of the stylepress inspire others and influence their ideas, in this way the stylepress is an experimentation ground for trends in the design of branding, web, print, fashion and other areas.


The relationship between print content and online content is at an important stage of its development and using the stylepress as an experimental playground, new ideas can be explored about this relationship that could effect many other areas of design in the future.

Revising Central Proposition

Stylepress magazines are a explorative playground for designers, where new, innovative ideas can be realized. How can we use this to explore the new possibilities of combining print and web media?

Central Proposition, Abstract & Background

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.