Reading List: November 2008

Gosh, it’s been a while since I got round to doing one of these. Not that reading matter hasn’t been stacking up in massive piles around the flat (still haven’t found a decent bookcase). A lot of it has been old faithfuls like Wired, Little White Lies, Grafik, Dwell etc. This time around though we have the first editions of a couple of brand new British publications, something in gold, something good and lashings of sex (well a lash… maybe two). Here goes…

Buck [buckstyle.com]
Buck arrives out of the blue. A product of one of the youngest and most ambitious (but still fun) magazine production teams ever. Buck is an independent magazine about ‘Fashion, Furniture & Food’ aimed at young men alienated by the more ‘Dad’ than ‘Lad’-ish culture of trashy rags like Nuts and Zoo, yet too young for the likes of the more sedate monoliths like Monocle and Esquire. This issue was art directed and designed in record time by Jasmine Raznahan [jasmineraznahan.com] and the team at Buck and is a mag that’s worth keeping an eye on.

10 Men [10magazine.com]
10 Men (and indeed, the same goes for sister publication, 10 Women) is a surprising magazine, in that it’s actually been around for a while although you may not have noticed. I originally picked it up cause they seem to be using a bizarre slightly serifed version of Futura and stayed for the rare (for a Men’s fashion magazine) combination of humour and intelligence they employ when discussing all things fashion. There seems to be a really solid group of editorial bods behind this one all reading from the same page… as it were. Here’s hoping they keep it up.

Good [good.is]
Forgetting an earlier faux pas [see 132] (let’s never speak of it again), Good is actually pretty great. It’s premise is a little hard to describe as people often seem incredulous that something as frivolous and wasteful as a magazine could actually want to do good, never-the-less I’ll have a go… Good is a magazine that raises and supports ethical concerns. It practises what it preaches by donating subscriptions to non-profit organisations seeking to make the world a better place. It does this with style, substance and a cheeky grin. The latest edition includes the new Good Business supplement. They also love Infographics and Graphic Designers in general. See… Good est good.

Kasino A4 [wearekasino.com]
Kasino’s last issue had the wholesome theme of Family. This issue it’s all about Sex which I guess leads to families so… it doesn’t feel like there’s as much to read in this one, probably because of the boob and willy count, but expect new angles (figuratively and literally) on the age old subject and what turns human beings on and those ace little quote thingies they like to sprinkle throughout.

Palais [palaismagazine.com]
I recently took a whirlwind two day trip to Paris just to get out of town and didn’t get to see even half the things I wanted to check out. I did manage to get to the Palais de Tokyo [palaisdetokyo.com], now a regular stopping place on any visit, to see an exhibition that may have been shown, in part, at the Barbican earlier this year on (amongst other things) Modern English folk art. Not exactly my idea of getting away from it all, still the regular magazine they publish is always worth picking up for a more leisurely and insightful way to re-engage with the subject at hand.

Pin-up [pinupmagazine.org]
Pin-up is my current fave architecture magazine and this issue is gold. Most of the magazine inside and out has been printed in gold ink. The contrast between the ink and the cheapo cheapo typefaces they use is ace. There’s not enough pictures in this one though and the slightly rejigged typesetting seems less enticing somehow, still a mag to look out for though. I wonder how you top gold though…

Art Vandelay [artvandelay.com]
Art Vandelay is a curious title for a ‘concept’ driven enterprise brought together by Lee Turner and his crew as part of The Russian Club Design Studio [therussianclub.co.uk]. The idea is to take a step back from editing and/or curating the magazine/events space and let the creatives take charge. So in the inaugural issue of the magazine you get designers and image makers interviewing each other and collaborating on various projects. Which is what also happens in their gallery space. Confused? I was a bit until I visited their space and it all started to make sense. Look out for the first in the Art Vandelay series of creative’s monographs to be released around the same time as the mag. Exciting stuff.