Jul 14
Inspiration series: Magazines
2008 at 11.33 am posted by Veerle
We continue the exploration of the offline world in search for that spark of inspiration. This time we are going to look at magazines. There are all sorts of them out there and some are better than others. I’ve tried to come up with an interesting mix of styles and topics to keep it diverse.
Styles
Some magazines really scream because of all the content. I don't know where to look first with those. I am more a fan of the less is more approach. These kind of lay-outs makes it easier to read imho. Another thing that makes or break a magazine are the pictures and the artwork inside combined with the advertising. I've seen well lay-outed magazines that loose their edge when you face the ugly advertising. It's really craftsmanship to pull off a magazine that has both.
Nord Magazine
Norwegian food magazine
Inspiration eZine
Fused Magazine
JPG Magazine
Viewer
Pot Holders
Vogue Knitting
Pullover und Westen für Herren
HOT LIST
Nice design in The Atlantan magazine
LIFE
If there is one icon magazine that shows how powerfull photography can be it's LIFE
Publish
Feeling Wonen
Art & Decoration
Magazine Design
AM7: Issue 07
Plus 81: Volume 12
Echtzeit magazine 05
View
Blaadje
Dutch magazine Blaadje, an annual magazine by and for people working in the Dutch magazine industry.
37served
1
very informative and a good reference. Thank you…
2
I love your inspiration series!
Seeing Art & Decoration in there brought a smile to my face as it was my favourite magazine when I was younger.
Now, I find Computer Arts and Computer Arts Projects (UK editions) to be inspiring everytime they pop up in my mail box.
3
A great resource, it must have taken some time to compile that post!
I find it interesting that you say:
“continue the exploration of the offline world in search for that spark of inspiration”
Most designers I know do not really make a distinction between on and off-line work. What they do is now so heterogeneous that they constantly move concepts from one medium to another as a matter of course.
Jez
4
Great list. I love to use magazines for design inspiration.
Man, I wish I could pull of that guy’s style on the cover of Pullover und Westen für Herren!
5
Some of the food photography in the first few magazines is pretty sweet :) Ive never seen asparagus look so yummy! :)
6
Excellent. Inspiration truly is everywhere - magazines are an excellent resource for ideas. I often look closely through the style/living/arts sections that come with the Sunday papers too. They have a lot to give. Ive always found that magazines really encapsulate the power that good typography can have over its readers.
7
I love all images, very pretty and refreshing. I like VIEWER horse in particular it was a nice portray displaying simplicity at its best.
Thanks for such a lovely post.
8
Great series! “View” is a great discovery for me!
Can I suggest Font Magazine as another inspirational magazine related to Typography?
9
Have you seen Alpinist magazine? I think it’s quite nice. Selected and big photos make an immpression. Also quite good typography although I’m not much of an expert. Cover page could be better.
10
great topic, and a very nice selection. i get a lot of ideas for layouts and color schemes from the Yoga Journal. it balances themes of neatness, cleanliness, and simplicity...and the recipes and articles are worthwhile too!
cheers.
11
Nice ideas and magazines! It is fun to see magazines from other countries, too. I also liked the poster series you did.
We went through an exercise like this recently in my typography class this summer, where our instructor brought in a whole bunch of magazines and we dissected the fonts and layouts and compared them all, to get a better idea of what is good layout and design, even to how advertisements affect the look and feel of the regular pages within a spread, and so forth. It was an interesting exercise and you can learn a lot by just comparing things like that.
12
I guess I am old but I remember the old Life Magazine and I thought it was great, almost all pictures and little or no printed word. Bring back the pictures.
Abby
13
I got some great ideas for making themes for sites and blogs based on the layouts in those magazines, thanks for posting the pics!
14
Good one
15
Mooi opgemaakt & interessant magazine: Items
16
Die Nord° is schitterend! Kende ik nog niet.
Jammer dat ik geen Noors kan ..... eyecandy downloads in PDF op de website te vinden: http://www.matinorden.no/
Nord° rules ... great lay-out, use of photography, .... lots of eyecandy ....
17
Wow, thank you!
Most of the time I get my inspiration from magazines and other paper things. This post is really helpful!
18
This leaves me almost worried for modern print design given so much of the excellence in the category came from pubs of the past.
Even so, I would’ve added GOOD Magazine (a relative newcomer on the scene with very distinct design) and Wired—I find these two to be among the most thoughtfully designed of modern magazines.
19
It is truly a very nice selection you’ve made. I realy like the food magasine, it’s so different from what i’ve seen before. And the Fused magasine is realy cool.
20
Great collection - thanks.
I’ve been reading “Publish” magazine for over 10 years and never even gave it a thought, until seeing your post today, that the magazine is published in different languages and distributed outside of the U.S. I apologize for whatever politically incorrect attitude that is, but I am trying to overcome it.
[Veerle: I think you confuse it with another magazine with the same title. This is one is Dutch from origin and the content is situated towards designers]
Thank you again,
Adam
21
Great collection of inspiration materials, thanks Veerle!
22
I’ll try to find some of those magazines. thanks!
23
Hey, this was a GREAT post. I think I really did just walk away with about a bazillion new ideas for how to organize things. I like the grid. :D
24
I loved this collection. It was inspirational. Keep them coming to enlighten us all.
Thanks,
Fanny
25
I love your inspiration series........I will save them for future reference.
26
Great article!! Some magazines were familiar, but also there were a number of magazines I didn’t knew before today!
What do you think of fraai-magazine.com? Together with some friends, we started this quarterly online magazine for inspiration and creativity last january.
Hope you like it!
27
Hi Veerle,
You may also want to check out HOWdesign if you have not yet. Love this magazine....
website: www.howdesign.com
forum: www.howdesign.com/forum
28
I love fused magazine. Good articles really good graphically and Birmingham based!
29
Excellent, thanks for the inspiration!
30
Great collection! Thanks.
31
Thanks for the inspiration!
32
Great compilation! Bookmarked! ;)
33
Best. i like the style.
34
Very Nice !
Thanks for the inspiration!
35
Great series! “View” is a great discovery for me!
Can I suggest Font Magazine as another inspirational magazine related to Typography?
36
I agree with @brainpicker, GOOD Magazine has a very distinct design and layout. It’s one of the only magazines I look forward to receiving. I just wish it came to my door more than 6 times a year.
37
Very nice designs indeed. Most are very catchy also.