The following magazines serve as inspiration due to a strong ethic of experimentation within the design choices made behind each issue.
The often out of the box use of typography within the issues embedded below is a practice I’d like to lean more heavily into, all the while not compromising with readability and accessibility. Besides that, these magazines often stray away from conventional layouts or presentation of visuals, going for a more chaotic, messier sort of editorial design – a disorderly look (albeit in complete order).
The coming of age theme begs for a newer kin of aesthetics to be represented by, therefore – I found myself reaching towards these magazines as inspiration: a sweet mix of “new ugly”, maximalism, etc.
- A Shade Colder: An arts magazine published in Estonia, A Shade Colder presents a strange and beautiful version of Estonian creativity that draws upon influences from across the Baltic states and beyond. Russia looms large, making frequent appearances via mentions of Estonia’s Soviet past, and concern at the war in Ukraine, contributing to a totally original editorial vision.
- Safar: A Beirut’s bilingual (Arabic-English) and biannual independent visual and design culture magazine, providing a window into cultural production in the Middle East. The fifth issue’s theme is Migrations.
- Solomiya: Launched in 2022 in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Solomiya provides a platform for Ukrainian artists, creatives and activists to reflect on the world around them, as they see it. This fourth issue is smaller and more concentrated than the first three, focusing closely on the intersection of war and the environment, illuminating some of the struggles and contradictions that are central to contemporary Ukrainian life.
- WePresent: A crazy experiment in the power of graphic design, each issue of WePresent is created in three separate versions by three different sets of designers. The designers for this fifth issue are Paula Scher in New York, Turbo in Amman, and Hort in Berlin, and this product page is for the version designed by Hort.
*small descriptions for the issues exemplified sourced from: https://stackmagazines.com/
