I recently listened to one of the latest magCulture meets on Jack Self, editor of Real Review and art director Rory McGrath of OK-RM. magCulture meets are great hour long talks from the magculture shop in London, with practitioners from their respective backgrounds giving insights into contemporary publishing and publications. I try to listen to them as often as possible but the latest addition particularly attracted me. Its because Real Review for the last year I'd say has caught my eye, with its unorthodox form and its fascinating cover art.
The talk goes into depth about what the quarterly published magazine is all about and I was rather surprised yet intrigued by the content which is all about exploring what it means to live today through engaging analysis, evaluation and enquiry. As the talk went on Jack describes the form of writing as under-appreciated and more a review of ideas and disciplines, that allows the reader to look back to allow them to look forward.
Therefore after listening to the talk I wanted to almost review what I learnt from this insightful talk about OK-RM design input and how Real Review functions but also how it interacts with audiences.
To start with the design of the magazine and the input OK-RM have in this project. I often wonder what its like for a design studio to step in and depict a book or magazine, in the same way the creator thinks about their content. In the talk Rory from OK-RM talks about how they came into the project from a different scope but aimed to echo the foundations of the magazine. I think this scope is defiantly reflected as the editorial and overall creative direction of the publication has a certain OK-RM aesthetic to it. But for me the form of the publication is more effective than the aesthetic and its interesting to see why the magazine is made like it is.
In the talk they delve into why the magazine is unique in its small size which I thought was an aesthetic choice but its down to budget and time. The smaller size allows less wastage in production and the paper used is amazingly 50gsm. However the paper choice has a reasoning behind it, as the low gsm means the publication is impractical after only a number months. Jack and Rory stated that the magazine is only meant to serve a purpose for a certain time period, then the next issue comes out. I found this really cool as today, independent books and publications are more cherished objects as people take pride in their printed matter. However Real Review doesn't aim to be a beautiful piece of tangible design that people cherish on a bookshelf, but a review that is dispensable.
As many independent magazines almost function like books now I wondered what other function Real Review may offer as its dispensable. Jack states that print allows people to do what they like and without anyone knowing. And this is to do with online newspapers and ebooks and how people constantly know what your up to via social media. I personally liked this point as it gave another perspective to the role of print in design, which is an aspect I consider a part of my practice.
No comments:
Post a Comment