Colophound

COLOPHOUND

€ 5,-

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13.11.2007 17:54:09 Uhr

Âť wristband found by jeremy leslie

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In March 2007, magazine makers and fanatics came together for a three-day event in Luxembourg.

The Colophon2007 symposium celebrated the rise of the independent magazine through exhibitions, workshops and debates; more than 2,000 people attended, from more than 25 countries around the world. This is what happened.

colophound magazine

is published in the framework of Colophon2007, International Magazine Symposium and supported by M-real and Victor Buck.

Creative and Editorial Direction Patricia Dolman, Mike Koedinger, Jeremy Leslie, Andrew Losowsky, Luis Mendo.

Editor Andrew Losowsky Art Direction and Layout Luis Mendo goodinc.nl & Suzanne Hertogs ontwerphaven.nl Contributors Samir Husni, Mike Koedinger, Jeremy Leslie, David Renard, Angelo Cirimele, Andrew Losowsky, David Renard Photography Eric Chenal, Philippe Krieps, David Laurent, Andres Lejona, Olivier Minaire, Ariane Petit, Boz Temple-Morris

Prepress studioforeditorialdesign S.A. Carefully printed by victor buck www.victor-buck.com Paper kindly supplied by m-real www.m-real.com Cover: EuroBulk Inside: Tauro & EuroArt Gloss Typefaces Quixote

by Iñigo Jerez www.textaxis.com FF Good Pro

by Lukasz Dziedzic www.fontshop.com Merlo

by Mario Feliciano, Feliciano Type Foundry www.felicianotypefoundry.com With grateful thanks to the mags we used as backgrounds: Coupe, Carl's cars, Yummy, SHIFT!, S Magazine, FRAME, Rojo, ThisIsAMagazine, Omagiu and Street/Fruits/Tune.

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Published by

our cover image

Kindly made by

Mike Koedinger 10 rue des Gaulois L-1618 Luxembourg www.mikekoedinger.com

Colophon2007, International Magazine Symposium has been produced in the framework of “Luxembourg and Greater Region, European Capital of Culture 2007” under the High Patronage of their Royal Highnesses the Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg The idea of this magazine began with collaborations from people attending Colophon2007. Everyone who wanted to work on it wore a badge that said ‘open for collaboration’. A selection of the results can be found in the middle of this magazine. The chosen theme was HALF. Idea by Luis Mendo Kindly supported by M-real » www.colophonmagazine.com

sergei sviatchenko

Born in 1952 in Kharkov, Ukraine, Sergei Sviatchenko is an artist and graphic designer. His work has appeared in Dazed and Confused, This is a magazine and Kilimanjaro. He lives in Viborg, Denmark, where he runs the communication space Senko. www.sviatchenko.dk

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pictures: boz temple-morris

Colophon 2007

"What a truly fantastic event: Brilliantly conceptualised, meticulously planned and clinically executed" Ravi Pathare, Magnation, New Zealand "It turned out to be a wonderful, inspiring & refreshing experience" Stéphanie Dumont, Carl*s Cars, Oslo "We really enjoyed the friendly atmosphere of the symposium and the beautiful city of Luxembourg" B EAST magazine, Tallinn "The fair is amazing and gives us a lot of inspiration" FRAME magazine, Amsterdam "I had a beautiful time in Luxembourg, Colophon was truly great" Miha, Designer, Bucharest

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"Herzlichen Dank für ein fantastisches Festival" Anja Lutz, shift!, Berlin "The venue, organisation and construction of the seminars, conferences, etc: excellent" Karen, Karen magazine, London "Un vrai succès et un très beau programme" Valérie Quillez, Luxembourg and Greater Region, Capital of Culture 2007 "We really really enjoyed our time in Luxembourg" Sebastiano, Stirato magazine, Rome "J'ai adoré le très lugubre cimetière des magazines" Philippe Graff, Spray magazine, Paris "Congrats on the conference" Jamin Warren, Wall Street Journal, New York

"Let's do it again soon!"

Karl, Carl*s Cars, Oslo "We'll always celebrate your 3 days birthday" OMAGIU magazine, Bucharest "Colophon changed my life" Stéphanie Dumont, Carl*s Cars, Oslo "Thanks is a small word that has a big meaning" Marc Mascort, Rojo, Barcelona

"It has been a fantastic event for the students on the BA Illustration Course" Suzie Edwards, Arts Institute of Bournemouth, UK "This is definitely one of the coolest things we have been involved with" Bill Douglas, Coupe magazine, Toronto

"Thank you for helping to keep magazines relevant" David Renard, New York

"The whole event has been a great success and I have met so many lovely and interesting people" Malin Persson, Designer, London

"The culture of resistance is alive in magazines" Boz Temple-Morris, London

"Der Spirit hier in Luxembourg war wunderbar" Horst Moser, magazine expert, Munich

"Pour un coup d'essai, c'est un coup de maître" Romuald Stivin Nusign Magazien, Lazy Dog Bookstore/ Gallery, Paris

"One of the best summits I've ever attended" Samir "Mr Magazine" Husni, Missisippi "It has been bloody amazing" Martin Tradsburg Christophersen, S Magazine, Copenhagen

"Good work – you guys rocked our hearts" Lars Harmsen, Slanted magazine and blog, Karlsruhe "The only bad thing about Colophon was that my bag was too heavy" Luis Mendo, GOOD Inc. Amsterdam "We are very happy to have participated in such a successful event" Yasemin, Birl and Ayse, :mentalKLINIK, Istanbul "Colophon2007 helps me stay young" Karl, Carl*s Cars, Oslo "Thank you so much for everything" Yummy magazine, Paris "Vivement le prochain!"

Guillaume Le Goff, Clark Magazine, Paris

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letter s

Andrew Losowsky

Âť cover from carl*s cars

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13.11.2007 17:55:00 Uhr

From: The Coordination office for Colophon2007, Casino, Luxembourg

Mum & Dad You may be surprised to hear that I’m still alive. Sorry about not mentioning my whereabouts in the last eight years. I seem to have found myself an idle moment, a pen and some paper so I thought I’d let you know what I’m up to.

It turns out that I’m the co-curator of Colophon2007, an international magazine symposium in Luxembourg. What is that, I hear you thinking, and did my rash ever clear up?

I’ve got a cream for it now, thanks, and the event is a huge celebration of independent magazines with gallery spaces, talks, a shop, a party or two, and more than 2,000 people due to visit a three-storey art gallery venue called Casino.

Right now it’s the afternoon before it all starts, and the world seems to be wrapped in cardboard and plastic. There are ten white-box spaces, each completely empty except for a piece of paper stuck to the wall containing the name of one of the invited magazines. Each one is going to create a version of what it would be like to physically step inside their publication. We also have invited speakers including the consultant and author David Renard, typography experts from Slanted magazine in Germany, and Professor Samir Husni (otherwise known as Mr Magazine), who runs the department of journalism at Mississippi University.

In summary: this is going to be fun.

I’ll write to you again one day. Did cousin Jenny ever solve that problem with elastic bands?

Yours, Andrew (Your son)

» spread from carl's cars

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From: The Casino Gallery, Luxembourg

Charles Saatchi I would like to apply for a job as freelance collector for your world-famous contemporary art collection.

As proof of my talents, I have already spotted ten rooms here in Luxembourg, filled with remarkable objects and new ideas. Alphabetically, they are: The Carl*s Cars Room has car tyres filled with flowers, a strange smell of engine oil and places all around the room to sit and enjoy their unique projections.

The Coupe Room, with stunning imagery and strange, thought-provoking titles. A slideshow projects onto a splash of paint, while the room is filled with pictures of pop culture and the natural world, in unholy and effective combinations.

The Frame Room is built out of coloured cardboard boxes, with small display areas that look like unpacked washing machines, showcasing miniature versions of interior architectural wonders. Beware of the paprika-covered one, it might make you sneeze.

The Fruits/Street/Tune Room projects the weirdest and wonderfullest street fashions from London and Japan. Just one of these freakish dressers, pickled in Formaldehyde, would make a great centrepiece.

The Omagiu Room is like a Communist dramatic lighting nightmare, the desk of someone senior with the results of his investigations in front of him: a huge red book containing copies of that remarkable magazine.

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The Rojo Room is still being finished (any requests?), painted to completion throughout the event by contemporary artists from around Europe. It has a bright, bold graffiti look that people – especially children – enjoy.

The S Magazine Room is a rather special place, thanks to its four walls of stylish, unpornographic eroticism. Never has the human body looked quite so good.

The Shift! Room is split into two areas — the corner, for enjoying the back catalogue, and the centre table, where people are sharing their reflections on the difference between public and private information. The wall is filled with the conclusions of previous discussions.

The This Is A Magazine Room has two sections of bright, funny, weird and just silly short films on loop, with other surprises – their brilliant books, postcards and a lot of balloons that read “Everything Will Be Ok” – scattered throughout.

And finally, The Yummy Room contains displays of junk food from around the world, their colourful glossy packaging screaming messages, mostly in Japanese, that no-one here understands.

I would be happy to acquire any and all of these for you (I recommend a starting price of £1.5m per room), with a mere 30% commission for myself. And there’s also an incredible collection of up-and-coming photographers and illustrators presenting in the portfolio space. Each one a gem.

I look forward to hearing from your accountant.

Yours sincerely, Andrew Losowsky Art afficionado

13.11.2007 17:55:07 Uhr

From: The archivist corner/Shop, Luxembourg

British Library, I would like to inform you of a selection of publications for your historical archive. They’re labelled as ‘Magazines’, and are all on sale in an area of the Casino in Luxembourg known as Room With A View. There are more than two hundred unique independent magazines from around the world on sale here, touching on everything from sports to food.

I should also warn you that you may have to invest some serious money to keep up with the archivist and collector Horst Moser. He reports his own private magazine collection to be around one million magazines; he proved the point by walking into the Room With A View store and saying calmly to the manager, Hans Fellner: “I’ll take one of each.” True story.

They are a beautiful and informative way of getting a hold on modern visual culture from around the world. I myself have found the whole thing rather too tempting (so much for travelling with hand luggage; and who needs to eat next month anyway?). What’s also a treat is the way that the cafeteria has been positioned right next to the shop, so dozens of addicts like the ones I’m looking at now can sit on the comfy chairs (or on the floor), eat and drink, and still feed their habit, all to the sound of playlists chosen by magazines. It’s a dangerous business.

The magazines are available to ship if you can send a large truck. And don’t worry about finding too much shelf space for them. A fellow here called David Renard has been telling everyone how paper magazines won’t be around soon anyway.

Let me know if you would like me to start stockpiling everything, for a reasonable fee.

Yours sincerely, Andrew Losowsky Senior Collector

» spread from rojo

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13.11.2007 17:55:13 Uhr

From: The graveyard, Luxembourg

From: The Moral Maze, Luxembourg

Andrew McKie,

Pope Benedict XIII

Obituaries Editor of The Daily Telegraph, London

cc: Dalai Lama, Ayatollah Khamanei, Chief Rabbi of Luxembourg, the Lord Krishna, Bill Clinton.

Looking through your online archives, I’ve found several omissions of important deaths from around the world that you really should have reported. Fortunately, I have not only located a useful list of these celebrated names, but also there is a collection of them and their stories in the rather creepy basement of the Casino in Luxembourg.

We’d like to ask for your guidance. There are a number of controversial issues that have been raised here in debates and discussions in the main room, and despite a remarkably talented list of chairpeople, we’ve failed to make any happy conclusions.

In a handful of slightly damp and purple-lit rooms are solid black gravestones for such figures as The Face, Emigre, Smash Hits, Brand Eins, Nest, Life and Twen. It’s a sad but moving business, and everyone who enters seems to be celebrating their lives rather than mourning their deaths. The passing of such names is always a sad affair, and we were proud to celebrate and mourn these events.

If you would like to correct your omissions, we’d be happy to pass you the short eulogies on each tombstone, for a very reasonable fee.

Issues such as how to get more advertising, what the secret of distribution is (and whether or not to embrace mainstream methods), how to maintain the credibility of independence without going bust, how editors and designers should interact... time and again we’re facing crucial moral questions to which their seem to be no simple answers.

We ask that you pray for us in these difficult publishing times, and if you could send us a list of ways to create the perfect magazine that makes oodles of money and for which advertisers are wrestling each other to get a left-hand page somewhere near the back, the event would be a far more peaceful place.

Yours, in prayer, Andrew Losowsky Preacher to the massmarkets, St Andrew of Colophon

Yours sincerely, Andrew Losowsky Chief Coffinbearer

From a darkened room, Luxembourg

Mum & Dad Last night was Colophon2007’s big Eclectic Electro Pop Party.

Please send Paracetamol urgently.

A.

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small treats from Colophon2007

Âť cover from fruits

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Âť left page from shift!

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photographies by eric chenal

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Top left onwards

Yummy, badges, Room With a View, Horst Moser (twice), children making masks, party, Shift!, dinner at Victor Buck, Room With a View, Victor's badge, entrance, contribute to this magazine (see p19)

Âť spread from yummy photographies by eric chenal

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13.11.2007 17:56:31 Uhr

Top left onwards

Entrance, Magazine, masks, Carl's room, Graveyard, shop, portfolio, sharing, lecture, Rojo's David, This Is A Magazine

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The new magazines

by Jeremy Leslie Group Creative Director, John Brown magCulture.com

Âť spread from carl's cars

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I

n today’s ultra-connected, 24/7 wireless world, there exist many public spaces dedicated to and colonised by people sat on their own. These people are immersed in one of two types of media: they will either be logged on to a wireless internet connection or absorbed in a magazine. The Palais de Tokyo gallery in Paris is one such place. As you enter the huge open foyer space, you are met not by a ticket booth or information desk,

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but by the two key services of the larger modern art space: the café and the bookshop.

The café space is to the right, and features quirky seating pieces occupied by laptop users taking advantage of the free wifi and enjoying the range of coffees and fresh juices. To the left is the bookstore. And what a bookstore! The books themselves are remarkable enough, but are nothing compared to what’s on display on the back wall. Here,

covering a space about 5m2, is as broad a selection of independent magazines as I have seen anywhere: more than a hundred international examples are neatly lined up on the shelves.

These magazines are the modern equivalent of the sixties counterculture titles (Oz, International Times, Fact), the seventies punk fanzines (Sniffing Glue, Search and Destroy) and the eighties style magazines (The Face, Blitz, Details). Like all of

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(Yummy), culture and politics (032c), skate culture (the Journal), cars (Carl*s Cars), sex (S-mag), gay culture (Kaiserin) and creativity itself (.cent). Plus of course fashion (endless examples). Is there a subject left that doesn’t have its own independent magazine?

these examples, these modern magazines reflect the age of their creation, albeit with a less singular vision than their predecessors.

This time, the agenda is not the political revolution of the sixties, the musical revolution of the seventies, nor the eighties worship of consumerism (a revolution in its own way). Today’s independent press mix elements of all those previous eras, sharing a loose agenda that reflects the crosspollination of the once discrete worlds of fashion, art, design, media and commerce.

Theirs is a revolution of content and form, a full-on attack on the lack of invention in the mainstream. While mainstream publishing has become ever more homogeneous and marketingdriven, the new independents see themselves as a return to a not-so-distant past when magazines set their own agendas rather than followed publicists’ schedules. These are magazines of self-expression, dealing with a broad array of subjects: fast food

Content is king – there is a shared respect for self-assured, long-standing publications such as The New Yorker, while also making a commitment to new combinations of text and image.

Many of those involved in making these magazines have a strong interest in, and appreciation of, the history of magazines both independent and mainstream.

Content is king – there is a shared respect for self-assured, longstanding publications such as The New Yorker, while also making a commitment to new combinations of text and image. Rojo is pure image, the only text being a list of captions at the back; each issue of Coupe exists as a near-abstract mood board on a single theme; and Karen parodies celebrity culture with it’s everyday details of one woman’s life.

This love of the form extends beyond content to the physical presentation of the magazines.

Varied paper stocks, special print effects and sophisticated binding techniques are features of many of these magazines – a recent issue of Cream remains the only example of a magazine I am aware of to feature paper pop-up sculptures – while formats range from tiny to large, anything but regular A4.

David Renard’s recent book The Last Magazine has at its heart a strong thesis that helps explain the success of the new independents, or ‘style press’ as he terms them. He argues that, as the mainstream becomes increasingly commoditised and time-orientated, much of it will naturally move to electronic distribution via the web or special electronic readers as yet not on sale. This will leave print as the medium only of those niche independents that can, and want to take best advantage of the unique qualities of paper and ink – exactly what the independents are busy doing.

» spread from carl's cars

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The big question remains, though: do these titles really have a long-term future, one that will see them last longer than the independents of previous eras? For all their creative invention of today’s titles, few, if any, are successful businesses in their own right. Many are side projects for busy design studios, agencies, or even, in the example of Omagiu, printing companies. Some are simply hobbies, labours of love for their editor-publishers. While technology has become cheap and available enough for even bedroom amateurs to easily match the production quality of the mainstream, the economics of small-scale publishing remain fraught with difficulties.

Although some publishers remain stuck in an old-school ‘no sell out’ mode, the ambitions of most are to reach more readers and to sell more advertising space. Part of the problem facing the independents is that their

international audience doesn’t suit the strategies of most brands and agencies, that tend to organise budgets by country or territory. Events like Colophon2007 allow magazine people to share these problems but there are no magic solutions.

It takes time and effort to build bridges with brands and media buyers, and so hopefully make editorial projects financially sustainable.

There are signs that some of the longerestablished titles are becoming selfsufficient. Forward-thinking brands such as Diesel have been very supportive of many independent magazines, including Carl*s Cars, a title that is beginning to break through to a wider audience and a larger advertising yield. Their recent twentieth issue carried 24 pages of advertising.

Rather than the internet and independent magazines competing with each other, instead they serve each other well. Blogs and community sites encourage people to express themselves more naturally than ever before while also allowing the independent spirit to be shared across social communities, plus e-commerce is both a useful promotional tool and also provides a wider audience pool for many magazines. For all the convenience and speed of the internet, consumers still seem to desire a tangible experience, at least for now.

Technology isn’t just about readers, either. Who’s to say that, back at the Palais de Tokyo, those laptop surfers weren’t busily uploading PDF files of their latest magazine to the printer?

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…further thoughts The advertiser

The magazinemaker

The printer

What are your criteria for placing an advertisement in a magazine?

Who is your magazine for?

How many new magazine titles are you asked to print each year?

Two criteria: - the numbers; that is, a high readership or at least some reliable circulation figures. As a media agnecy, our role is to advise our clients – advertisers who trust us – so we are very careful to get all the information about a new title's potential and of course to pay for the ad space at the correct price.

- the qualitative approach.

Sometimes, aspects such as a higher quality of readership rather than just pure numbers are taken into consideration.

Of course, the ideal situation is to find a magazine that combines both high-quality audience and high readership figures.

What is the effect of online advertising on print?

Online advertising is more and more important; nevertheless, I do not think that print will disappear as fast as some people think. Indeed, we feel that both media ( online and print) are increasingly being used to complement each other: online is a wonderful way to find out information, but consumers then continue to look to magazines for in-depth coverage. For a large proportion of the current population, magazines represent still a need and a pleasure.

Anne Bataille, CEO Aegis Media, Belgium

Everyone and anyone with an open mind. We’re not ageist, as long as you’re interested in new and established creative talent and fashion in Glasgow, Europe and the planet Earth then Borne is for you.

Why choose a magazine as a form of expression?

For us it just made sense. I came from an advertising background and Lindsay from a fashion background. I’m words, Lindsay is imagery. How better to combine and express ourselves than through articles and photoshoots? It’s also a really physical thing that can circulate easily and reach a variety of people in a variety of places. You don’t have to walk into a gallery space; you don’t have to make a big statement. A magazine removes that barrier. You take your own time and go back to it when you like. There’s something really un-pretentious about a mag. You can get away with so much more.

Where did you choose to print it and why?

Estonia. For a Glasgow-based magazine that’s pretty far, eh? Well, we can thank a man from a well-known magazine for that. A chance meeting in a bar with a friendly Scandinavian pointed us in the right direction.

Do you expect to make a living from it?

We had better! We’re in it for the long haul and know Glasgow needs this creative platform, as does the whole of Scotland. Nothing like Borne exists here. There’s a huge creative and fashion scene happening and evolving here, and someone needs to document it! It’s just too good to waste.

Iain Nevill, Editor, Borne magazine, UK (launched September 2007)

We receive around 12-15 enquiries per year.

How much has print technology changed in recent years? What happens next?

HybridTechnology (UV-HybridMachines) now allows us to create better-quality magazines. In the next few years,I expect individual circulations to fall, but there will be a bigger number of titles as more specialised information is demanded.

Higher environmental standards and perhaps larger format will make also magazines more attractive in the future.

Herbert Preißler, Managing Director, Druchkaus Berlin Mitte printing company, Germany

» page XXXXXXXXXXXXXX from rojo

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All visitors to Colophon2007 were invited to get together and create a unique contribution for this magazine, under the theme of ‘Half ’.

Their contributions fill precisely half of this magazine.

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13.11.2007 17:57:34 Uhr

Âť www.jamesmajowski.com www.theartworksinc.com + www.christian-aschman.com

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13.11.2007 17:57:43 Uhr

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Âť www.jamesmajowski.com www.theartworksinc.com + www.christian-aschman.com

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choose the good

» PHOTOS BY NATASHA GUDERMANNE (WWW.GUDERMANNE.NET) LAYOUT BY MARTIN SVOBODA (WWW.FUNKFU.NET)

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half

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» CHRISTIAN ASCHMAN + KEVIN LALOUX

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HALFWAY BETWEEN LUXEMB HALFWAY BETWEEN LUXEMB

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MBOURG AND AMSTERDAM MBOURG AND AMSTERDAM

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Âť jean-sebastien grill

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13.11.2007 17:58:34 Uhr

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Âť svetlana baburova (latvia) + luis mendo (netherlands)

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Âť sergei sviatchenko

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13.11.2007 17:58:55 Uhr

Âť sergei sviatchenko

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13.11.2007 17:58:58 Uhr

Âť suzanne hertogs (the netherlands) + edith stone (spain)

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13.11.2007 17:59:05 Uhr

HALF.in

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13.11.2007 17:59:07 Uhr 29.03.2007 22:02:03 Uhr

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13.11.2007 17:59:08 Uhr 29.03.2007 22:02:06 Uhr

2:06 Uhr

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Âť nicopirate (france) + ivan le cosalte (france) Colophound_typo_ok.indd 40

13.11.2007 17:59:45 Uhr

Âť www.jamesmajowski.com www.theartworksinc.com + richard mar

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13.11.2007 17:59:48 Uhr

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Âť www.jan-kiefer.com + www.stefan-weyer.com Colophound_typo_ok.indd 43

13.11.2007 18:00:06 Uhr

Âť luis mendo (the netherlands) + edith stone (spain)

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13.11.2007 18:00:25 Uhr

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Âť hugo oliveira

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13.11.2007 18:00:33 Uhr

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13.11.2007 18:00:33 Uhr

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Âť concept/editor/writer: nicole van der steen (holland), a.d: edith stone (spain), photographer: svetlana baburova (latvia).

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13.11.2007 18:00:42 Uhr

Âť mirthe blusse + leonie van de laar

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13.11.2007 18:00:51 Uhr

We found a box of magazines labelled ‘Colophon2027’. We asked some friends to take a look inside.

C

ontrary to what you might think, the quantity of media, both physical and virtual, has neither simplified the world nor made it more intelligible.

Quite the opposite, it seems to have become more complex, more diffuse, and this mass of phenomena, people, movements and events can even be quite frightening.

In the last 20 years, magazines have become a sort of label with which to “enter” the world, through ideas, places, people, and images… each has devised its own way of economising; the collapse of medium-sized newspapers and magazines in 2018 even made paper cheaper than before.

There are a few noticeable changes in magazines compared with those of 20 years ago: our pages still present the combination of images, objects, and media.

Beautiful girls are still photographed, although the share of “pretty boys” has considerably increased.

Magazines still try to be funny, they tell stories, but

above all – something which blogs and myspaces have not succeeded in doing – they now create real communities that work together, where creators get together with their readers, in the real world, for regular meetings.

And the alternative to huge, widereaching brands has been the formation of individual and active groups, through affinities and aspirations; the cultivation of projects has now replaced that of pure leisure. You now subscribe to a project to take up Saturday afternoons or the project of a lifetime.

Angelo Cirimele, Magazine, a Paris-based fanzine

» page from omagiu

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I

love surprises. So when my friend David Carey (founding publisher of Condé Nast Portfolio magazine back in 2007) called me to tell me that he just put a copy of a brand new magazine in the Rapid Delivery System for me to receive the next morning I was, once again, as with any time I receive a first edition, on cloud nine. I could not sleep all night.

I kept thinking what type of magazine it will be. It has been kept under wraps for months and it promised to be one of the most innovative and relevant magazines ever published. He has been teasing me about it.

“You will like the cover, in fact you will love it,” he said. “Wait until you see the inside. Every thing in that magazine is going to be a first, and at the same time everything in it will look and feel the same,” he added. I rushed to my office the next morning, my heartbeat on the rise waiting for

that delivery person to arrive with my surprise magazine box. He did and I ravaged the box.

I just ripped it open and unwrapped one of the most captivating magazine covers I have ever seen. My Magazine, was the name of the publication. The cover has a striking image of exactly what I am wearing except in a different colour. The image, bright and shiny, rotates with you as you flip the page. You can see the front, the back and the sides of the model on the cover. It is trendy, hip and relevant. In big type below the title is a tagline that screams “The magazine you can read, listen to and watch.” I open the cover and turn to the first of the 90 high-quality, glossy pages. As I open it I am greeted by a screen in the middle of the pages, a disposable screen with a menu that allows me to interact with the magazine in different ways unique to the articles I have flipped through.

After I have read a great review about the latest Britney Spears Golden Oldies music collection, I have the option of bringing up the interactive, disposable screen to view videos from the past or listen to clips of her more recent music. The screen in the middle of the magazine feels as an integrated part of the magazine. The paper provides me with the experience I have always loved and cherished. I am able to touch and

feel the pages while the disposable, interactive screen hooks me with its multimedia experience. With all the benefits of this publication it still remains under 10 dollars, ensuring that I won’t feel guilty leaving the magazine behind somewhere after I have enjoyed it, exactly like a chocolate bar I am able to eat and leave the wrapper when I’m done.

Inside the magazine are subscription offers for My’s sister publications: Yours, His and Hers.

Prof Samir Husni, www.mrmagazine. com

» spread from frame - illustrations by suzanne hertogs www.ontwerphaven.nl

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T

his magazine is a strange beast. The cover, it says, has been created by the winner of this year’s Turner Prize, but this isn’t an art magazine. Instead, the cover is more of a free gift for subscribers, because the content inside has been compiled to the individual formula of the person who this is for, in this case a woman in her early 20s.

According to an accompanied sheet of figures about the industry, less than 10% of readers now buy magazines that are 100% any single brand; instead, the rule of thirds is the main driving factor. The most common title subscribed to is Facemag, created by the makers of Facebook to feature news and photographs from your friends and colleagues. This particular copy’s lead Facemag story is a hen party, with a selection of photos by some of the people who attended.

There’s also a couple of short feature stories that have been lifted from blogposts by friends of the subscriber, and some news-in-brief, single paragraph updates.

Also in this issue is 80 pages from Vogue – the latest top photoshoot and a summary of the catwalk fashions. The small print inside tells me that the following week will include selected content from Harpers, the week after that from Wallpaper* – and that more content can be purchased via the reader’s online profile. The final third seems to be taken from news from local newspapers and websites – the top stories from particular cities where the reader has probably lived or maybe is just interested in.

former big names in the magazine industry, including editors of the New Yorker and the designer of Creative Review; I can visit each of their profiles online to see who they are.

Strange and a little disjointed as this new magazine world is, it’s something of a relief for me to see that the editor still has a job, albeit as a personal brand designed to compete with the magazines themselves.

Andrew Losowsky, co-curator Colophon2007

An ad on the inside back page talks of a new service starting this month – 20 pages of specially curated content for the price of 10.

This content is supposed to open the magazine, and will be chosen, edited and designed by

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L

uxembourg, year 2057.

As Colophon, the international magazine symposium, turns 50 this year, Jeremy, Andrew and myself are currently working on an anniversary edition. Over a couple of beers in Amsterdam, we decided to look at the past, the present and the future of the magazine industry, both with an academic and a creative view.

A few more beers later and it was somehow decided that I would be in charge of the retrospective part.

Every day since then, I’ve been flipping through my magazine collection, in a room full of publications.

When I came across the titles from 2027, nostalgia took over as I remembered an e-mail exchange the three of us had in the early years of our collaboration. We’d been discussing the future of magazines, a hot topic back then. Magazine lovers were anxious about the future of magazines, many people even wondered if magazines would

cease publication in the near future. The thinking was that digital media would take over, as people prefered instant news and immediate communication. The end of the print felt close, very close.

I remember the fun we had back then, imagining how magazines might be in 2027. “Playboy, though aged 74, will continue publishing naked girls”, and so on, although none of us had an opinion on the fashion of pubic hair. “Oh, and by then, Monocle will have been sold on and Tyler Brûlé would be about to launch his third, groundbreaking title.” What about the fashion mainstream? What about Vogue? “Hmm, in 2027 Condé Nast will have replaced its entire editorial team with a bunch of sales people and art directors, editing the 2,000 pages of ads for the Christmas issue”. In fact, the media monolith did indeed decide – after the crisis of 2012 – to skip content altogether as a response to shareholders profits’ expectations. Beware what you joke about.

In front of a shelf filled with 2027 titles, I grab at random for any magazine and find myself holding a rare collector’s item in my hands: issue 20 of Yummy. It says ‘Copy 1,150/200,000’ and I remember Pascal Monfort handing it over to me when we met at the launch party in Paris.

At that time, Yummy was one of the most respected magazines in Europe. It was seen as so clever and old fashioned, using traditional printing and finishing techniques on a smooth yet distinctive paper, respecting the writers’ freedom of expression, commissioning the world’s most creative photographers and illustrators, designed in a beautiful way and selecting its few advertisers very carefully.

Yummy was far from the rest of the market, all e-paper magazines with permanent

digital updates, instant e-commerce functions on all products included in the PR-driven content, including ongoing debates and live ratings from readers, video files, audio mixes, odorama effects, etc.

Yummy was 100% technology free – and that was its source of success. Happy days.

Mike Koedinger, founder and co-curator Colophon2007 and Colophon2057

» spread from frame - illustrations by suzanne hertogs www.ontwerphaven.nl

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I

still do not quite understand what I have in my hands.

At first glance, it looks like a magazine.

It has standard sized pages, 100 or so, bound together, with a cover, stories and images. I can flip through it and roll it up to fit in my pocket, or use it to swat at flies. Basically, it seems familiar. But as I look closer, something is definitely off.

It’s not that the bizarre fashion that bothers me, or the long feature about Chelsea Clinton’s presidential campaign. It’s also not that the paper feels closer to the plastic sheets that are used by some countries as their currency, or that the binding seems to have 3 buttons on it. These could just be gimmicks used to sell more copies. I have seen better and worse.

What really threw me off guard was page four: a moving BMW ad. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought it had to be a more advanced lenticular effect, where the image changes depending on the viewing angle.

But no, this was video, and not just 5 or 15 frames a second. The picture does not even distort as I bend the page. Every few spreads, I see more video, for car and pharmaceutical ads, articles and interviews. They are either full-bleed, covering the entire page or spread, or much smaller sections, included as part of a story.

more pages, and every time, I am redirected to content that seems to be straight from the net.

These pages are like screens, in that what you are looking at can change, yet they resemble paper because they, oddly, do not emit any light: just like ink on a printable surface.

There are no wires or antennas, though I suspect the Internet connection and power is received through the spine.

To me, this magazine, a hybrid of paper and technology, is the very best of both worlds.

David Renard, author of The Last Magazine

This magazine (it still looks enough like one for me to call it that) is unbelievable.

Playing around with it, I discover that there is a news section on pages 30, 31 and 32 that continuously updates with articles and images laid out in the manner of an online newspaper like lemonde.fr. Further along, by mistake, I touch the center of an ad, and the image on the page changes to what looks like the company’s website. I test this on

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At Colophon2007 a specially invited group of professionals and students presented their work to the crowds.

Here is a selection.

Âť spread from S magazine

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illustration Glenn D’Hondt Daniel Aga Lisa Allegretta Mirthe Blusse Dan Chrichlow Stina Fisch Cédric Geney Steve Jakobs Mone Maurer Christian Neuman Hyung Gyu Park - Sislay Sergei Sviatchenko Martin Svoboda Nicolas Valette Tamara Villoslada Michael Worthy

Belgium Romania Belgium Netherlands UK Luxembourg France Belgium Germany Luxembourg Italy Spain Denmark Czech Republic France Spain France

graphic design www.eugene-and-louise.be www.danaga.info www.allegretta.com m_blusse@hotmail.com www.dutchuncle.co.uk stinafisch@gmail.com www.cedricgeney.com www.steveinbrussels.com www.monemaurer.com www.focusart.com www.jamaicanwashabi.com www.sislay.co.uk www.sviatchenko.dk www.funkfu.net www.nicopirate.com www.tamarindous.com www.advocate-art.com

illustration Samuel Bell Adam Bowley David Callow Chris Campe Emma Cheng Jean-Charles Frémont Holly Harvey Philipp Hertel Hannah Jones Jan Kiefer James Majowski Britta Manger Daniel Morrison Mik Muhlen Debbie Powell Estelle Sidoni Hilda Tormanen Eivind Vetlesen

UK UK UK Germany UK France UK Germany UK Germany UK Germany UK UK UK France UK UK

illsamuelbell@tiscali.co.uk thechaosdude@hotmail.com mimic262@hotmail.com chris_campe@gmx.de emmaleecheng@hotmail.com java-design@laposte.net Hollyleigh85@hotmail.com www.fh-augsburg.de/~batman/ Sickofsummer@hotmail.com www.jan-kiefer.com jamesmajowski@yahoo.co.uk www.daeskind.de danmorison900@yahoo.com mik_muhlen@hotmail.com Debbie-powell@hotmail.com estelle.sidoni@wanadoo.fr htormanen@hotmail.com eivindvetlesen@yahoo.no

Anthony Smyrski Yomar Augusto Pieter De Kegel Janine Hendriks Karen Lubbock Mihaela Popa Monica Zawadzka

USA Netherlands Belgium Netherlands England Romania Poland

wwww.smyrskicreative.com www.yomaraugusto.com www.piotrspigiel.com www.kaftwerk.nl www.karenmagazine.com www.mihamiha.com www.monikazawadzka.com

graphic design Jean-Sébastien Grill Tina Otto Cecilia Valetta

France Germany USA

www.extraterez.com tina.otto@gmx.net cvaletta@gmail.com

photography Werner Amann Germany Ansgar USA Christian Aschman Luxembourg Joaquim Barreto UK Claire Boucl France Jeannette Corbeau Germany Luigi Di Donna France Serkan Emiroglu France Alejandro Escamilla UK François Fleury France Natasha Gudermane France Eline Keller-Soerensen Germany Christian Laloux Belgium Andrés Lejona Luxembourg Olivier Minaire France Jussi Puikkonen Finland Sabine Reitmaier Germany Frank Schumacher Germany Claire Spreadbury France Marc Thiroin France Jeanine Unsen Luxembourg Michel Zavagno France

www.werneramann.com www.ansgarphotography.com www.christian-aschman.com www.joaquimbarreto.com claireboucl@hotmail.com www.jeannettecorbeau.com www.artandbrand.com www.serkan.co.uk www.alejandroescamilla.com www.1000horizons.net www.gudermane.net www.elinekellersoerensen.com www.lagalerie.be andres.lejona@nico.lu www.olivierminaire.com jussi@wearekasino.com www.sabinereitmaier.com mail@neuebilder.com claire@o2ocreative.co.uk www.marc-t.com www.nini.sixthfloor.lu www.lescorpsavances.com

photography Kevin Laloux Spiegel Piotr

Colophound_typo_ok.indd 57

Belgium Poland

kevinlaloux@hotmail.com www.piotrspigiel.com

13.11.2007 18:02:19 Uhr

bournemouth's introduction

alejandro escamilla

bournemouth's introduction

britta manger

christian aschman

hank park

eline keller-soerensen

martin svoboda

frank schumacher

martin svoboda

Âť spread from this is a magazine

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alejandro escamilla

zabagno

joaquim barreto

adam bowley

dutch uncle

debbie powell

hannah jones

jeannette corbeau

tamara villoslada

eivind vetlesen

dutch uncle

emma lee cheng

james majowski

dutch uncle

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13.11.2007 18:02:34 Uhr

claire bouci

claire bouci

claire bouci

werneramann

f fleury

david callow

jan kiefer

stinafisch

natascha gundermane

jeanine unsen

natascha gundermane

Âť spread from this is a magazine

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13.11.2007 18:02:44 Uhr

ansgar

ansgar

hertel veiglhuber

ansgar

chris neuman

mik muhlen

estelle sidoni

luigi di donna

samuel bell

holly harvey

Colophound_typo_ok.indd 61

fremont

13.11.2007 18:02:52 Uhr

VICTOR

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13.11.2007 18:02:52 Uhr

R BUCK

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‘

The choice of is crucial for atmosphere paper

Hans Kentie | graphic designer

’

www.m-real.com patricia.dolman@m-real.com Colophound_typo_ok.indd 64

13.11.2007 18:02:55 Uhr

‘You meet a magazine like you meet a person.

Usually face to face.

And as with people,

first

impressions ‘There’s a

big appetite

(Design, quality of paper – it’s as much part of the magazine as the quality of journalism)

fate

And of course buying them.

will determine their

ma

time

‘It’s a fact that people  their

Typefaces have a life of their own

and only

s e n i z a g

Neil Boorman | Sleazenation Shoreditch Twat

Helen Bland | vice president of the International Federation of the Periodical Press

Emily King | design historian

First they get the visual hit, but then they have this tactile experience.’

for up-market magazines if they’re good’

Ken Wilkie | writer and former editor

Nicolas Coleridge | Managing director of Condé Nast UK

are often lasting.

For a magazine, the cover not only sets the tone of for what’s to come, it sells the publication.’

Jeffrey Keedy | graphic designer

Colophound is printed on EuroArt Plus, EuroBulk and Tauro www.m-real.com

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To accompany Colophon2007, we made a book. Inside, we put amazing moments in magazine history, the stories behind successful covers, insider hints from advertising specialists, magazines we miss, new magazines, and we also gave each of the ten invited magazines at the event their own pages to show off what they do. Plus, at the back of the book we squeezed in the largest directory of independent magazines ever printed – more than 1,100 titles from around the world, including all of their contact details. With ten different covers and seven colour printing, it's the essential read for anyone with a passion for print.

To obtain a copy for just â‚Ź35, visit www.colophon2007.com/book Published by Mike Koedinger. Produced by John Brown. Distributed by Die Gestalten.

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colophon2009 international magazine symposium 13.03-15.03.2009 / luxembourg Produced by Mike Koedinger in collaboration with Casino Luxembourg - Forum d'art contemporain

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The partners of Colophon2007 Produced by

In collaboration with

Within the framework of

Supported by

Website developed by

Global communication

Book produced by

Magazine designed by

+ Ontwerphaven

Curators: Jeremy Leslie, Andrew Losowsky and Mike Koedinger.

Production staff: Ariane Petit, Joanna Grodecki, Rudy Lafontaine, Dany Lucas, Estelle Sidoni.

Head of “The Room With a View Store”: Hans Fellner fellnerbooks.com Head of programme of “The Eclectic Electro Pop Party”: Alexis Juncosa.

News Editor: Mary Carey. Accounting: Sylvia Leplang, Stephanie Simon.

» page from coupe magazine

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