Print is dead. Long live print
Welcome to the future of magazines. Oh, hi there, iPad!
While it’s amazing that you can immediately see videos of the events that are being discussed in articles (incidentally, a format like this would also translate brilliantly for a music magazine), I can’t deny that I’m still in love with print. I’m not planning to stage a one-woman resistance against the digital revolution – that would be more than a little ironic, given that I’m currently writing a blog post – but I do still prefer the tangibility of magazines as they currently stand.
I’m a bit of a print geek; I even went on a trip about a year or so ago to where our student paper was printed. I found it irrationally exciting – I mean, look at all the PAPER!
Masses and masses of paper, making for three happy hacks...
We had a lecture on paper last Friday from UPM‘s Terry Parry; it was amazing. There was so much to consider that I’d never even really consciously thought about. Obviously you want your choice of paper to reflect your magazine’s brand identity, but I’d never really considered the fine-tuning which goes into it.
My favourite paper? I really like what Little White Lies is printed on; it’s really thick and substantial, and has a lovely, distinctive feel to it. I, and many others, could probably tell the magazine by feel alone; the paper becomes part of your concept of the LWL experience.
But, while I am a massive fan of the physical, tactile nature of magazines, I am also aware that magazines will need to start doing something different in order to ensure their survival in the face of declining ABC figures. Esquire is a brilliant title when it comes to experimentation, having produced the world’s first e-ink cover, as well as an “augmented reality” issue and a hardcover issue. It’s innovation such as this which marks the title out as one to watch.
I’m not averse to change, not by a long shot; I’m averse to losing the beauty of magazines as a physical entity.
