The STACK Blog
Quick flick – Gym Class
Thursday, October 13th, 2011
Jeremy has already given us a pretty detailed look at the new issue of Gym Class, but since this latest issue is all about magazines I thought it was worth a nod here as well.
Editor Steven Gregor won’t mind me saying that he’s the ultimate magazine super geek. Just look at what he’s done with page four – magCulture rendered in placeholder Xs, but still unmistakable for anyone who has spent an excessive amount of time on that site.
Steven uses his standfirsts to speak directly to the reader, his breathless enthusiasm full of *LOLZ* and *RE-SULT*s. But this is no fanboy getting over-excited – there are some great editorial ideas, like Andrew Losowsky meeting designer Luke Hayman at Barnes & Noble so they can surround themselves with magazines during their interview. It’s a brilliant way of setting the scene, lending an important visual element to a spread that doesn’t have any images.
It’s not the sort of thing I could get through in one sitting – too many extra long interviews for that – but I keep on coming back to it and love the obviously genuine enthusiasm and warmth that emanates not just from Steven, but from all his contributors. It’s genuinely fascinating to read so many different (but complementary) opinions on the reality of making magazines.
It looks like it’s sold out on the magCulture shop for now, but keep your eyes peeled for more issues being made available soon. Or get yourself down to Printout, where we’ll have two copies nestled in the magazine library for you to read.
Printout is back
Saturday, October 8th, 2011
It’s time once again to gather in the basement of The Book Club in Shoreditch and read magazines, talk magazines and drink beer. This time the theme of the evening is labours of love, and me and Jeremy have pulled together a great panel of speakers who all have their own stories of making magazines for love (and sometimes money).
There’s Les Jones, the man behind Elsie. I’ve written before about his extraordinary magazine, each issue customised by hand, and I can’t wait to hear about the sheer amount of work that goes into the project.
Then there’s Gareth Main, whose Bearded made a brave and beautiful attempt to rethink the music magazine before hunkering down into a website and podcast instead. He’ll be talking about things he might have done differently, and how publishing doesn’t always turn out quite as you planned.
And last but not least, Cathy Olmedillas will speak about setting up Anorak magazine out of sheer frustration at the other kids’ magazines out there, and how that one experiment has turned into a full-blown publishing empire (though she’ll probably be too modest to use exactly those words).
We’ll also have the Printout library, stocked with independent magazines from all over the world, music courtesy of Oh Comely magazine, and everyone gets to go home with a free copy of Australian magazine Patterns of Creative Aggression. All that for £5 can’t be bad – book your tickets now!
We’ve moved (and gone black and white)
Friday, October 7th, 2011
Actually this is a bit late. Stack moved to our new office with The Church of London on Friday last week – thanks again to everyone at TCOLondon for helping to shift our boxes of magazines across Shoreditch. It’s been a busy few days so I’m only just getting chance to write this.
Part of the busyness came from the October delivery going out today. The postman picked it up this afternoon, so subscribers should see their magazines arriving in the next few days. You’ll notice when they arrive that we’ve had to go black and white for a month – our printer wasn’t up and running in time for the delivery, so all the Stack letters were printed by our new neighbours (who just happen to be a printing firm). It turns out that colour copies cost a fortune, but normal colour service will be resumed next month.
In the meantime, if you’d like to contact Stack you can send your magazines, newspapers, posters and other good bits of print to us at 71A Leonard Street, London EC2A 4QS. Looking forward to hearing from you!
Quick flick – Pigeons & Peacocks
Tuesday, October 4th, 2011p. 80 “As we know, fashion is never just about clothing.”
Pigeons & Peacocks is a sumptuous fashion and culture magazine printed annually and created in collaboration with London College of Fashion. It positions itself as uniquely free of advertising and as a mixing of industry and graduate talent. It’s dense and delicious and the photography is seriously cool.
For those less inclined towards the clothes and more inclined towards the culture, the first half of the magazine is your smorgasbord of irreverent and bitingly witty editorial.
In this fourth issue, P&P sets forth on an exploration of nostalgia beginning with an ode to the North of England containing subheadings such as tea, net curtains, grandmas, lumpy knits, sunbed abusers, and woodchip, as well as a section on Northern Style Heroes, which is superbly illustrated by Marcus Oakley. As editor in chief and creative director John William writes, ‘Northern working class identity is so tightly bound with notions of British nostalgia; and those golden days of yesteryear when community spirit (if we believe what we see on Coronation Street) was as thick as Lily Savage’s accent.’
For those of you with an ability to dress well and an interest in it, the remainder of the issue looks at fashions including menswear by some of the most promising next-generation designers, the fabrics and jewellery of West African country Benin shot by Saga Sig and styled by John William, and an essay unpicking the Theory of The Hipster and Hipster Style. The perspectives are sharp and the musings on fashion’s collision course with culture run thoughtfully throughout.
If you haven’t turned the pages of P&P before, you must. It’s a delight.
Grafik joins Stack
Monday, September 26th, 2011
Whenever I send out a graphic design magazine on Stack I get a great response – both Eye and IdN have been member magazines pretty much since the start – so I’m very pleased to announce that Grafik has become the latest magazine to sign up.
They ceased publication last year to howls of protest from across the design world, and it was great to see the current team finding a way to bring the magazine back earlier this year. Designed by Michael Bojkowski (who makes the brilliant Stack-affiliated Linefeed Reading List videos) and edited by Caroline Roberts, Angharad Lewis and Anna Lisa Reynolds, it takes a brilliantly refreshing look at design from all walks of life.
The current issue on hand-drawn type is typical of their approach to the subject matter, turning over a full section of the magazine to their favourite type artists. Grafik doesn’t just write about design – it actively involves itself in the subject and seeks to be a leading example of great design. Or take the relaunch issue, which included a special secret message embedded within the shapes on the front and back covers (there it is above – apparently it doesn’t have anything to do with morse code). I never did crack the code, but I loved the idea – the complete obsession with magazines and design that could lead to that sort of experimentation.
We’ll be sending an issue of Grafik out within the next few months, so if you’re not already signed up get yourself subscribed and make sure you don’t miss out.
Quick flick – Blanket
Thursday, September 22nd, 2011
Blanket has been around as an online-only magazine for a few years now, and its creator Bec Brown has been talking about making a printed version for almost as long as I’ve known her. Yesterday the first ever paper Blanket landed on my desk.
It’s a radical departure from the old Blanket style, thanks in large part to Bec’s collaboration with Daren Newman. The two are both based in Manchester and the city’s Victorian architecture and design has clearly influenced the magazine, with its beautiful 19th-century Gothic flourishes. I had to try a couple of times to read the coverlines – partly because of that ‘B’ reversing into an ampersand.
The device works better inside, with this embossed ‘B’ on the title page…
And debossed ampersand on the following page. Very nice.
Blanket was always about showcasing the work of illustrators and artists, and it continues that mission in its print incarnation. There’s some lovely stuff, especially the embroidered images by Laura McKellar and posters by American designer Jason Munn.
But my favourite bit is the story on women criminals from the early 1900s, which plays on the popular stereotype of femmes fatales and Thelma and Louise characters. Blanket sent descriptions of women criminals to three illustrators, who let their imaginations run wild to create their artist’s impressions of the women.
This one is by Paul X Johnson, based on a description of Eugenia Falleni, alias Harry Crawford: “Eugenia Falleni spent most of her life masquerading as a man. In 1913, Falleni married a widow, Annie Birkett, whom she later murdered. The case whipped the public into a frenzy as they clamoured for details of the ‘man-woman’ murderer.”
Then the actual mug shots are printed on the following page, showing the reality of these women criminals and hinting at the sort of hardship they lived with.
It’s an elegant idea that carries an effective, insightful message. And it shows how much more value there is in creating original stories rather than simply reproducing artists’ existing work. It’s nice looking at a collection of illustrations or reading an interview with an artist, but this sort of editorial working with design is what makes for a really interesting magazine.
I’m not sure when the next issue of Blanket will be out but I’m already looking forward to seeing it, especially if they can build on this first issue to tell more of their illustration-based stories.
Come work with Stack
Monday, September 19th, 2011Next week we’ll be moving to new offices on Leonard Street in Shoreditch, and with the new space we’ve got room for the first ever Stack intern. We’re looking for somebody to work with us from the start of October to Christmas, and we can pay food and travel expenses up to £20 a day.
Full details are included below – drop us a line if you think you fit the bill!
Marketing internship
Three-month internship
Central / East London location (Old Street)
Stack brings together the world’s best independent magazines and sends them out direct to subscribers all over the world. You never know what you’re going to get next, but you do know that it will be a beautiful, intelligent magazine that you probably wouldn’t otherwise have seen.
We’re recognised as one of the most forward-thinking forces in independent publishing, and as well as sending out magazines we host events, run competitions and undertake special projects, all dedicated to promoting small independents.
The role
We’re looking for an intern to help spread the word about Stack in the approach to Christmas. The successful applicant will be an enthusiastic graduate with a passion for independent publishing and the desire to work on all aspects of running Stack. We can pay travel and food expenses up to £20 per day.
Specific roles will include:
// Developing press contacts and communicating with them to secure coverage
// Running competitions and special promotional activities
// Helping to organise magazine events
// Helping to manage the Stack database
The position is full-time, starting on Monday 3rd October and running until Thursday 22nd December. The role would best suit candidates interested in marketing and independent magazine publishing.
Please send your CV and a 200-word covering letter to info[at]stackmagazines.com by Friday 23rd September.
Quick flick – Snap!
Friday, September 9th, 2011
I’ve been off for a couple of weeks, but I’m back in the office now and starting to work through the pile of magazines that have accumulated on my desk. There’s loads of good stuff that I’ll try to get through over the next couple of weeks (thanks to everyone who has sent magazines in) but the one that really jumped out at me is Snap!
You can probably guess why it caught my eye, but there’s more to Snap! than double Ds. Sort of. There are dirty dishes, David Duchovny, diamond dogs, dunking donuts… the list goes on. Every feature in the magazine has a double D title. That’s the only thing that connects the subject matter, giving the magazine a feeling of wanton exploration.
They’re not a craft magazine, but they’ll show you how to dip dye.
They’re not a skate magazine, but they’ll run a (wesc-sponsored) fashion shoot based on skating’s dog days.
They’re not a literary magazine, but they’ll engage with big ideas from serious writers (economist Darrell Duffie on the global financial crisis, and academic Denis Dutton on the philosophical nature of beauty).
It could so easily feel tenuous and forced, but instead the overwhelming feeling is one of freedom. It’s because they’re so assured – every page of the magazine looks lovely, the thick matt paper full of colour and life.
It’s because of the care and attention to detail that means even the fashion contacts page gets its own double D name (details details).
It’s because of the inventiveness – I love ideas like this one, with a model photographed in the same simple pose, but dressed as Doris Day, Dorothy Danrigue and Daisy Duke.
But most of all it’s because of the sense of fun. Founded in 2008 by a pair of Australians living in Montreal, the magazine began as a showcase for local talent and has grown to cover stories from across all of Canada. In their introduction they explain that the mission of Snap! is “to offer something that is original, high in quality and playful in nature”, and that’s exactly what they’ve done.
I’ve got no idea whether the idea for alliterative headlines occurs in every issue, but I definitely want to find out more. Snap! doesn’t feel quite like any other magazine I’ve ever seen, and as soon as I finish posting this blog I’ll be dropping them an email to see if we can work out a way of getting them onto Stack.
Done deal.
