Category Archives: Magazines

Utne Reader Video Magazine Review

The original content aggregator, Utne Reader has a new feature where they review magazines and books in a video presentation. Cool Idea.

Found it on the Creative Review blog.

Rodale Publishes Nearly Up To Date Back Issues on Google

Looks like Rodale has some sort of partnership going with google or maybe they’re just giving in to the inevitable and allowing the scanning of all but the latest issues of the magazine. I found all these titles with the last 3 years of back issues available up to the November or December 2008 issue: [...]

Flipping Digital Magazines

I agree with some of my readers who think this page flipping of digital magazines is a joke but if this is what it takes to get magazines to publish a digital version then by all means, go for it. I think there’s a very small portion of your audience that’s looking for a digital [...]

JPG Magazine Can’t Stay Afloat with Inexpensive User Generated Content

I’m a little surprised by the number of emails I’ve received and the number of blog posts I’ve seen (here, here, here, here, here and here)  regarding the demise of JPG magazine. Taking something that works well online and printing it seems kinda like taking a magazine and turning it into a website. Does anyone [...]

Time Magazine Trolling For Free Pictures on Flickr

Dear XXXXX,
We would like to publish your photo in Time Magazine in a year-end issue and also on Time.com. If you are the author of the photo and can give Time the rights to publish it, please send a high-resolution image to xxxxxxxx@timemagazine.com. While we can’t pay you for this use, we’ll give you an [...]

Pentagram Redsigns The Atlantic

Pentagram’s Michael Bierut and Luke Hayman give the 151-year old general interest magazine it’s 8 redesign (see the process here).
They revert back to an old nameplate from the middle of the last century and bring back a version of the “TOC on the cover,” something that’s very common with literary magazines.
“In a magazine of ideas, [...]

Newsweeklies, Where To Go From Here

Here’s a debate on Fox Business via Mr. Magazine where the two pundits brought on to debate Time vs. Newsweek end up taking different positions on what those two newsweeklies should actually be covering to stay relevant.

Dr. Husni, J schooler and clearly a big champion of printed magazines argues that newsweeklies need to change their [...]

How Will Condé Nast Survive?

Condé Nast will survive the shift of media online because for the most part they produce something that can’t be replicated online.
This is from a story in the NY Times last weekend:
“Condé also consistently sells more ads than its competitors and at higher prices, though some of its magazines make little or no profit. Even [...]

Dispatches- A Magazine For The Future

Dispatches is a new quarterly magazine co-edited by Mort Rosenblum, former editor of the International Herald Tribune and Gary Knight, founding member of VII photo agency. Each issue will focus on a single topic and the premiere issue topic is America. I’m told Antonin Kratochvil has an 80 page photo essay *repeat, 80 goddam pages [...]

High School Newspaper Dynamic Not Much Different Than A National Magazine

See for yourself at MTV’s “docu-reality” show The Paper (here). First episode is available for free on iTunes.

Is the high school newspaper cool in some schools? I had no idea.

Magazines- User Experience vs. More Users

Magazines will deploy an entire bag of tricks to attract readers who normally wouldn’t be interested in buying their product. Getting people to subscribe usually involves pretty harmless marketing stuff like gift offers (SI’s football phone is the most famous and successful example), direct mail (send in your toaster warranty and suddenly Martha Stewart is [...]

GQ- April, 2008 Issue

(click to make big)
I really like this quote from the Alex Pappademas story. Works for photographers too.
“Y’know, I grew up in a different generation. I grew up after World War II, and boys [...]

National Magazine Awards, Finalists

The Ellies are one of the top awards to win as a Photo Editor because editors love to have one of those elephant trophies perched on a table around the office (the last place I worked the owner had a rather large herd of elephants that you could see from 6th avenue).
One small problem associated [...]

10 Questions for Jodi Peckman- Rolling Stone

I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was intimidated by working down the hall from legendary Rolling Stone Director of Photography Jodi Peckman. She’s garnered every accolade the photo industry can hand out and her rolodex is the size of a parmesan cheese wheel.
As it turned out my fear was unfounded because she’s a [...]

NY Times Magazine- Oscars Photo Essay

Last Sunday the New York Times Magazine featured a brilliant photo portfolio of actors that appears to be the antidote to the Vanity Fair treatment. Shot entirely by Ryan McGinley, in a spare but cohesive style, it surprisingly holds together nicely for 28 pages. I think their attempt to wrestle the Hollywood photoshoot beast away [...]