57. MAGAZINE SPOTLIGHT: THE GREEN

Magazine Spotlight #04
The Green Soccer Journal www.thegreensoccerjournal.com

When issue number one arrived back in late 2010, I was so excited – a well-done magazine that addressed lifestyle and design in the context of football, or soccer as they have chosen to call. Recognising the diversity of football fans (which you must remember is without a shadow of a doubt the biggest sport in the country) and that we are not all pub-philic, beer-loving, foul-mouthed hooligans, the magazine presents a modern, mature outlook on the hot sport for a design-conscious audience (and indeed created by design-conscious, well, designers). So it was my perfect magazine and I felt that I represented the perfect readership.

I've purchased the first four issues, each of which highlights a theme to explore and includes valuable, journalistic interviews with some of the biggest names in football and accompanied by beautifully shot photography of unique perspectives away from the matchday furore. And it's very interesting to read, perhaps another good example of nailing an appropriately niche subject and doing it attractively.

However, it's not all good, because the writing and language was rather average, yet the price continued to go up from an initial £4 for Issue One to £8 for Issue Four, before doubling the latter for its current 'revamped' issue Number Five. And that's a bit too much for me and I've refused to purchase it. My intrigue is still very much there, I still want to pick up a copy and spend time with it, but I just think the price hike is too high, and certainly given the quality of what it's been thus far (which I reiterate wasn't at all bad, but fair at 5 or 6 pounds). They claim the magazine has taken a new, progressed direction with higher quality printing and denser issues, but I remain unconvinced. A £16 publication can't make grammatical errors in its own About passage, come on now. (I've underlined the childish error.)

The Green Soccer Journal is a biannual magazine that takes an innovative, cultured and intelligent approach to the worlds most popular sport. The publication includes an eclectic mix of football culture and is built on a passion for the game, something which is shared by all of our contributors.

Displayed in a creative, visually stimulating format, we have worked with some of our favourite photographers, and writers to create a title that offers an alternative view on all things football.

I don't disagree with its cultured and intelligent approach (not sure what innovation it's describing) but the second paragraph is frankly boring, just telling us it's superficially pretty – something I firmly believe, whilst of course important, should fruit naturally from its content and aims rather than an independent consideration point.

To summarise, it's a good magazine and one I would have (and have had) no qualms with, had it not called for higher scrutiny with its new price point, for which I do not think it sufficiently delivers. Shame.

50. INJOY JOURNAL

Having decided to adopt the idea of producing a publication tailored for people who love what they do, I wanted to quickly visualise something tangible and achievable. The title of ENJOY developed into INJOY to emphasise the rich state of happiness that passion can provide, being in a world of joy. It's a working title but I quite like it at the minute, ticking all requirements for the vision of my potential product, with an easily adoptable aesthetic, directly encapsulates the rationale and the optimum degree of wordplay. It's usually not very good to be so positive of my own work, I am aware, so let's not get too carried away.

I want INJOY Journal to showcase the joy and reward for people from engaging with their interests, to explore the methodology and reasons behind the interests and to present the existence of one common emotion shared and experienced in all walks of life and all forms of activity. The aim is to advertise the benefits of more positive, proactive, attentive attitudes toward what we seemingly 'love to do', and to portray a perhaps romantic allure for better enjoyment for everyone concerned. From professionals who love their jobs to enthusiasts who live and breathe their hobbies, members of fan clubs and appreciation societies, subject experts and critics, the opportunity for contribution is rather broad. And that should be good for me as a researcher and good for the readership as variety.

Still brewing, but I feel like I'm onto something. For the time being, I reckon I can accumulate some small, individual case studies of research and explore the gathering of information, with Design Research material possibly becoming quite important. Below is an example for a shop owner who runs a local delicatessen.

48. MAGAZINE SPOTLIGHT: CAFFEINE

Magazine Spotlight #03

Caffeine www.caffeinemag.com

Available to pick up for free, Caffeine is the coffee lover's magazine, distributed to selected coffee shops around the country to serve as the 'stockists'. Of course it makes sense in terms of hitting the right readership and that is indeed how I found out about it. I've managed to collect issues 1 to 3 so far, with the current edition still eluding me.

Whilst short in relative terms of page count (probably aligning itself to the Stylist or Sport market) the content is presented with an air of expertise, finding the right, attractive quantity (and quality) of specificity. The publication includes journalistic articles, photography, reviews, essays and surveys to tell the Caffeine story and, really, provides everything you'd expect a 'coffee lover's magazine' to provide. Its advertising is smart and direct too, relevant for us the readers, spanning the likes of organic beans, espresso machines and coffee houses, all more helpful than irritating.

The magazine is a good example of narrowing into one specific subject and exploring the area in depth, with the challenge to present the specialist findings in a manner that is both appealing and amusing for all. Oh, and from spilling the beans to ground rules, I for one don't get bored of the cafe wordplay at all.

47. CAT PEOPLE MAGAZINE

Newly released is the magazine to serve our feline fetishes, Cat People. The bilingual publication from Melbourne just unveiled Issue One to the world, filled with interviews, photography and documentation from cat lovers across the globe. I'm probably more fascinated to see how, if at all, this magazine can develop and progress over its future issues as I myself can only see a limited number of responses and content – basically we all love cats. I'd certainly like to get my hands on a copy though. I do like cats...

>> Visit the Cat People homepage

42. MAGAZINE SPOTLIGHT: MONOCLE

Magazine Spotlight #02
Monocle www.monocle.com

"Keeping an eye on the world" since 2007, Monocle was launched by the man behind Wallpaper magazine, Tyler Brûlé. It's the one title I am a paid subscriber for, accepting their package of 10 issues + 2 papers + 1 tote bag + full online archive access + event invitations for an annual fee of £90. That price is actually more than what the cost of buying individual copies at the newsstand would be – a challenge to the standard pricing model where in-advance batch subscriptions tend to be better value. This is explained in the confidence placed on their services, a subscription being more than just a sales contract but as an act of buying into the brand. And Monocle's branding is one of the most complete around.

In partnership with sister design studio Winkreative, Monocle has rapidly achieved an iconic status of design and presence. The magazine aims to pioneer the ever-changing print and journalism industries, priding themselves with dense, in-depth and carefully selected content covering what they have identified as today's most relevant topics in affairs, business, culture and design (following a beautifully effective logic of ABCD). Significantly rooted across all parts of the world with offices, correspondents and sources, the work is assured to be genuine and unique, and certainly doesn't lack in quantity either as issue after issue they deliver seemingly larger, book-ish documents that I've currently collected the past 23 of.

Monocle has from the beginning laid out its version of aspirations and represents a high quality lifestyle in collaboration with their readership, and in recent years the company has expanded and ventured into radio broadcasting, physical shops and cafés to supplement the paper product and emphasise their values. Each outlet offers a different, yet equally asset of the brand and has proven to be a fine example of changing the relationship with its followers and the expectations for what a magazine title provides. At the very least, it's a successful challenge on what the relatively static print culture had been in the past couple of decades. Now, six years down the line, the format remains unchanged in its aesthetic design, which clearly reflects said aspirations and framework, using a sure template filled with beautiful first-hand photography and a masterful combination of Plantin and Helvetica.

It's a publication I constantly have much to take and learn from, in all aspects of its venture and one that has no doubt inspired my joy for the revival of print media.

40. NOTES FROM THE MODERN MAGAZINE CONFERENCE

>> http://magculture.com/blog/?p=19333

Key reference link from the conference I introduced last week.

31. MODERN MAGAZINE CONFERENCE ON MONOCLE THE STACK

> http://monocle.com/radio/shows/the-stack/60/

It was the Modern Magazine Conference on Wednesday this week, an event organised by MagCulture's Jeremy Leslie to celebrate the print publication industry. I wish I'd been there, and I really feel like I should have, but priced at £140 I opted not to. Still not sure if I'll live to regret it or not. It's a conference with speakers curated from the most successful, forward-thinking titles around including Monocle's Tyler Brûlé, Apartamento's Omar Sosa, Bloomberg Businessweek's Richard Turley, the list goes on. And the event was so attractive because it's a focussed gathering for optimism in the paper form with insightful discussions and talks on how strong the industry is and can be. Leslie says many of these kind of conferences tend to be defensive over print, but this is an event of celebration.

Monocle 24 hosts a weekly show specifically about print and in today's edition, episode 60, they cover the conference and so it's a good listen.

27. MAGAZINE SPOTLIGHT: OFFSCREEN

Magazine Spotlight #1
Offscreen www.offscreenmag.com

First up in my spotlight series of good publications is Offscreen, a magazine exploring the people behind websites and apps – a smart concept looking at the offscreen lives of those who are behind the work we see on screen as well as more literally being behind screens all day for a living. I'm no coding enthusiast nor app developer, but it's still really interesting to be presented with how these people operate and to hear their outlooks on the broader notion of design and lifestyle.

Originally a web designer by trade, Kai Brach launched the first issue of Offscreen in early 2012. Feeling disconnected by the fast pace and the ephemeral nature of the digital world, after ten years of freelance work Kai wanted to create something more tangible. With Offscreen Magazine, he combines both his love for technology and the web, and the unique experience of printed magazines.

In the span of three months, Kai "converted" from a UI designer to an editorial art director, not only publishing and editing Offscreen but also designing the magazine from the ground up. As such, Offscreen is still a one-man operation, and a proudly authentic indie magazine supported by amazing contributors and curious readers. Kai hopes to reinvigorate printed magazines as a choice of media that provides a welcome break from our always-on society.

The words here, extracted from Offscreen's own About page, are eloquently put and provides a perfect introduction to the project's aims and purpose, which resonate with my feelings towards print as both an industry and as a reader who can appreciate good content. Printed magazines being a "unique experience" is vital to note, as an experience I am eager to find in its creation as well as the experience I feel as a reader. I think that Offscreen's statement of intent or self-instigated value is well communicated and on point for fitting into our lifestyle. It's therefore one of my favourite publications in the market, and has thus found itself first in my series of upcoming 'spotlights'.

20. THIS

This arrived in the post along with my magazine subscription today, the Christmas Collection booklet by Monocle. I've done a couple of booklets for Victate, the layout and content of which I'm greatly satisfied with, but the final print has been lacking in my opinion. This, however, is absolute perfection. This little booklet is precisely what I want to recreate in form and weight. I'm not sure what paper type it is but I'm sure it's some sort of wove paper and its heavy weight just adds to the texture – it's goodness objectified.

19. A SELECTION OF MAGAZINE TITLES

Over the coming days and weeks, I'd like to spotlight some magazine titles that have been influential in my love for the media. I'm an avid reader of the recent rise in niche offerings and in the last couple of years, I've accumulated a decent selection of examples that is worthy of exploring and sharing. For now, here are some of the picks.

Monocle www.monocle.com
Apartamento www.apartamentomagazine.com
Offscreen www.offscreenmag.com
Kinfolk www.kinfolk.com
Printed Pages www.printedpagesmagazine.com
The Green Soccer Journal www.thegreensoccerjournal.com