Bumper Reading List

Jeez. After Colophon, I thought I’d need a break from looking at magazines but it seems to have only fed the addiction. Heaven protect my bank balance. I don’t know how I’m going to get through this lot. Lucky there’s loads of pictures to flick through, I guess. :)

Marios magazine [mariosmagazine.com]
Marios calls itself a magazine but similar to Special [specialmagazine.jp], verges on trendy clothing catalogue for clothing label of the same name. This issue takes the Polish capital, Warsaw as it’s theme and contains some cool photography by Kuba Dabrowski [kubadabrowski.com] and random features on art, fashion, illustration and design. Designed by Two Zero Studio [zerotwo.org], the magazine also utilises a recent trend soon to be emulated by the ‘green’ edition of Creative Review [creativereview.co.uk], of doing away with a cover and leaving the spine exposed, binding and all.

Forum AID [forumaid.com]
I picked this mag up in Copenhagen. It looks like a pharmaceutical packet and offers a type of antidote to your typical architectural magazine by mixing up exterior and interior architecture with furniture and industrial design. Fun but formal would best sums it up, and in english too.

I.D. [idonline.com]
I.D., as opposed to i-D [i-dmagazine.com], the two often get confused, is a magazine I’ve been meaning to add to the NMCA cover archive [nmca.boico.net] for some time now. This issue is particularly good, not just because it features a legendary piece of work by one of my personal design heroes, Lou Dorfsman [typogabor.com/cbs-dorfsman], but because this is the Ornament Issue, with loads of crazy examples of modern ornamental applications including a bunch of suggestions for updating Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House [farnsworthhouse.org].

Neo 2 [neo2.es]
‘Cause it was free at Colophon and this fashion issue is ace. See more of their covers over on the NMCA [nmca/neo2].

Self Service [selfservicemagazine.com]
This mag always feels like a bit of an indulgence, mainly because of the price but it feels even more deluxe now they are publishing it with a hard cover. I almost managed to avoid buying it but realised it’s a Chloé Sevigny special with most of the fashion spreads dedicated to the super stylist come actor.

Time [time.com]
Because of the redesign, really. My bad?

Dummy [dummymag.com]
Dummy just gets bigger. You can now download it, read the blog, join the myspace page, listen to the podcast and loads of other stuff… oh and read the magazine which is designed by i-D art director, Dean Langley, and is a more fun and random take on his work for them. Make sure you check the spine too.

Another Man [anotherman.co.uk]
Bought to you by the bods at Dazed & Confused [dazeddigital.com], this far out shines Dazed, but then it’s a pretty lush and glossy production. Gareth Hague’s [alias.uk.com] typography just gets better and better each issue too. This issue also features full bleed colour pages used to denote stories instead of using titles. Radical.

Lodown [lodownmagazine.com]
It would feel odd visiting Berlin without grabbing a copy of Lodown. This one is alright. I kind of wish Marok [marok.info] was still at the creative helm.

Wired [wired.com]
Cause I’m really liking the redesign. It’s not a bad read really.

Readymade [the-readymade.com]
Pro Qm [pro-qm.de] in Berlin is one of those bookstores you have to seek out when travelling abroad. Their magazine selection has become more architecture orientated since I last visited (I grabbed a copy of A10 [a10.eu]) but I after rummaging through the stuff on the top shelves I found Readymade, a design magazine from Hong Kong. Each issue has a theme, this first edition is the Scandinavian Issue and features loads of really cool interviews.