Offscreen Magazine

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Two days ago I launched a fundraiser to help make the new version of Offscreen happen and you guys blasted through the funding goal in less than eleven hours. 

I was following in disbelief. I knew I had a loyal, supportive audience, but the willingness to rally behind the campaign without even blinking was one of the most humbling things I’ve experienced in a while. It also gave me a massive boost of energy and confidence to keep Offscreen going.

Now it’s on me to deliver and I’ll be working hard over the coming months to do that. Having the development costs of the new website/backend covered takes a lot of pressure off of me. 

Thanks to everyone who pledged and/or help spread the word!

After a few calls for a new stretch goal, I’ve changed our fundraising goal from $12K to $18K. It’s definitely a stretch, but let’s see how we go. I know adding more goodies to the mix (like shirts, prints, tote bags, etc.) would have been a more lucrative incentive, but that also adds a lot of cost and complexity, and is kind of counterproductive to the fundraiser. Instead, I wanted to give back a little and decided to work with a handful of TechEd organisations to get hundreds of copies of back issues into the hands of underrepresented/underprivileged people starting in tech.

If you haven’t pledged, it’s not too late to join the Rebranding Diary. The fundraiser will be open until the end of the month (September), though the first email will go out September 11th.

Ok, back to work...

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Issue 15 is now available for purchase and shipping starts early-mid next week! Our stockists will receive their copies over the coming weeks, starting with Germany and Europe later next week. 

If you’re a subscriber, as always, please make sure your shipping details are correct by logging into your account status. 

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This is the fifteenth time I’m sending out my launch newsletter announcing a new issue. I find it hard to believe that I’ve been doing this for more than four and a half years now! As hinted at previously, issue 15 marks a milestone. This is the last issue of Offscreen in this particular format. So where to from here? Thinking about Offscreen’s past and future, I often find myself wondering: am I still as excited about Offscreen as I was at the beginning, when I was impatiently counting the days to the delivery of my very first issue? I have learned so much since then. What started as a magazine I made for myself turned into a magazine I make for an (unbelievably supportive) audience. Through you, I became a better interviewer, a more confident editor, and a more capable boss of a one-man business. Of course, I’m not done learning. I still make mistakes. But today I no longer question every decision. I’ve made peace with missed typos and imperfect cover shots. I’ve kinda grown up as a publisher. There are a few more grey hairs too. And so I don’t mind admitting that the early caffeine-like buzz I felt about Offscreen has been replaced by a healthy(-ish) pragmatism and the realisation that newbie naivety is great for getting started, but not so great for keeping it going. I learned that perseverance as a career discipline is underrated, especially in an industry that’s constantly chasing the Next Big Thing. Jason Fried had a point when he said in issue 12: “It’s not hard to start a business. It’s hard staying in business.” Yes, I’m still excited about Offscreen. I’m excited about building a brand with the potential to live on, to persevere, even if I eventually decide to take a step back. I don’t have any plans for Offscreen to become a big media brand. I’m happy for it to remain a small, accessible, independent publication, but one that punches above its weight. For that to happen I feel a reset is necessary. So, over the coming weeks and months I’ll be working on a complete redesign of the brand, the magazine itself, the website, its backend, and its subscription structure. You will hear from me occasionally via email with updates on my progress and to ask for your feedback. I can’t say it often enough: the one thing that makes me want to never stop is you. Your tweets, comments, emails, reviews, and the real-life conversations I had with so many of you over the years makes Offscreen by far the most rewarding and fulfilling thing I’ve ever done. Thank you once again. As I’m looking at my giant (and growing) list of to-dos for the rest of the year, I sincerely hope I’ll be able to count on your support once again. Because nothing motivates me more than the prospect of receiving more of your kind and thoughtful messages in the future. 🙏 I’ll be in touch again soon. – Kai (Editor/Publisher)

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It took a little longer than usual to secure all eight sponsors for this issue, but only because I'm very picky with the brands I'd like to partner up with. I couldn't be happier with the final list of supporters of issue No15. Please give them a friendly shout-out if you can!

I'm not ready to provide an exact launch date for issue 15 yet, but we're not too far away now. If you're not signed up for our newsletter, do it now to not miss the latest updates via email. (Hoping to send one out in the coming days!)

Figma — say thanks →

FontShop — say thanks →

Hover — say thanks →

Shopify Partners — say thanks →

SiteGround — say thanks →

Squarespace — say thanks →

WeTransfer — say thanks →

Zoho — say thanks →

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As I’ve mentioned on The Modern Desk, I’ve spent the last fortnight or so working through HTML prototypes of a new version of the backend that helps me manage Offscreen orders/subscriptions and the logistical workflow. This new version is part of the major overhaul I’m introducing towards the end of the year.

Having to think through all the different use cases and potential features that I want to add to the website (front- and backend) is a lot more complicated than I thought, especially when having to do this alone, or with just one other person, my developer. 

To get more feedback and to see whether I’m on the right track, I’d like to invite some of you to provide feedback. Since I don’t want to bother all readers with this (quite technical) stuff, I thought I create a separate mailing list that people interested in participating can sign up to. 

This is not an ongoing newsletter! If you sign up, you’ll probably hear from me just a few times over the coming weeks and months with proposed ideas and some insight into the progress of the back/frontend changes. Obviously, I’m keen to hear your thoughts. To make this manageable, I might even cap the subscriber number at a certain point. 

If you happen to have a UX/UI background, I’m particularly keen to hear your thoughts. :)

You can sign up here.

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Proudly announcing the launch of issue 14! Available for purchase online today – starts shipping from our warehouse in Berlin early next week!

Please check your inbox for a link to your personal status page to check whether this issue is part of any existing orders or to change your shipping address!

Thanks so much to everyone who helped make this issue come together, including our contributors, subscribers, patrons and sponsors!

Order your copy today to be part of the first big shipment! 

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Hi Kai,

hope you had a great weekend and an awesome day so far! I wanted to drop you a message to say one thing. Thank you!

Lately I have been struggling a lot with anxiety and depression. The everyday life in running a company is not always easy and the temptation of giving up is, sometimes, really strong.

The last couple of weeks have been awful. Even just waking up, coming out of bed and drag myself to the office. This is not what I wanted from life. This is not what the people I look up to do.

During these pretty bad weeks a thing kept me afloat. Reading Offscreen.

Your magazine has been one of my favourite readings since I discovered it a couple of years ago. This week it was my safety net. A window to a world to look up to and get inspired from. Your articles and interviews boosted my morale and gave me the motivation to pick up the pieces and start taking care of myself again.

The stories of success you tell are always realistic, they show the struggle to get there, they show that a mindset oriented to excellence pays off. This was super important for me. Calmed down my anxiety and gave me the strength to get back to my fights.

I just wanted to thank you. To tell you that you are making a difference in my life. A positive one. A massively positive one.

I am gonna buy the issue 13 today (I am catching up, sorry). Can't wait for it.

I can imagine it's hard work to run the magazine, but please do keep it up! You have something amazing in your hands. You are showing a good example to a lot of readers like me. Hopefully, some of us will be talented enough to make a difference in this world and it will be because of you.

Sorry for the super long mail. I never write this kind of fan boy emails, but this time it was important to me.

If you'll ever need a hand with something, with the magazine or other projects, feel free to get in touch. I'll always owe you a big one.

Have a great rest of the day,

Simone

This. This is why I do what I do. All the best to you, Simone! And thanks for sharing this heartfelt message with me/us. <3

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In case you haven’t seen yet, yesterday I’ve published a giant, 6500-word piece on Medium in which I summarise my learnings on the business side of making a sustainable indie magazine.

Head over to Medium to check it out.

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Since starting Offscreen I’ve conducted no less than 76 long-form interviews with what I’d consider successful individuals. Leaving the definition of success aside for the moment, the question of ‘how they got there’ is an ever-present theme in each interview. It’s also the topic of thousands of books, articles, and listicles published every single day. You’d think we managed to answer that question by now, but the path to success remains a complex wayfinding exercise that seems to rely on luck and good timing above all else.

What I understand so far is that hardly any business can come out on top without years of hard work and a fair share of trials and tribulations. Even shining industry favourites like Airbnb had to persevere. In our interview for the upcoming issue of Offscreen, co-founder Joe Gebbia talks about his company’s ‘trough of sorrow’ – a period of no growth, a phase without any clear sign that the sweat and tears (and money) invested will eventually pay off. It's the no man's land between failure and success where we face two options: to call it quits or to press on into an unpredictable future.

After almost exactly four years of producing Offscreen, I’ve reached a somewhat similar point. Offscreen has so far been the longest, most tiring, yet most rewarding project I’ve ever been involved in. The magazine has been a success in many respects: I have been able to make it my full-time job from day one and ever since it’s been a tiny, profitable business sustained by a loyal readership and a number of hand-picked brands that align with Offscreen’s values. Yet, after (soon) 14 issues, more and more people ask me, “Where to from here?”

It’s a question that has been whizzing around my head for the last six months. I think an answer is slowly solidifying. What’s clear is that – as a one-man show – there is only so far I can take this. For Offscreen to be more than it is now, it would have to evolve and modestly grow to an extent that makes those changes viable.

But fret not! The magazine will not disappear. What comes out at the other end might just look a little different. I’m still working through various scenarios to see how feasible my ideas are. Some of the restructuring will occur behind the scenes as I’m trying to change my editorial process while maintaining the genuine, open approach so many of you (and I) enjoy.

I know this is a big tease, but I honestly haven’t decided much at this point – other than that issue 14 and 15 will go ahead unchanged. What comes after that is to be revealed later in the year. Until then, my main focus will be to make the next two issues as great as they can be.

Please know that your continuous support will be an important gauge for these future plans. So, if you appreciate Offscreen please consider pre-ordering the next two issues. You can be sure that the soon-to-be-released issue 14 is once again packed with some truly inspiring stories of success and, of course, perseverance.

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As I'm getting into the final stage of editing, it's time to give a massive shout-out to the companies that really get Offscreen and allow me to do what I do.

I'm not quite ready to give an exact launch date for issue 14 yet. If you're not signed up for our newsletter, do it now to not miss the latest updates on the next issue.

Basecamp — say thanks →

FreeAgent — say thanks →

Hoefler & Co — say thanks →

Hover — say thanks →

SiteGround — say thanks →

Squarespace — say thanks →

WeTransfer — say thanks →

Zoho — say thanks →

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These are some of the many things I brought home from my weekend at The U Symposium in Singapore.

While I was there I met artist and designer Pann who, together with his wife and two kids, makes a FAMzine (as in family) called Rubbish. I have to admit that I’m usually not a big fan of the zine scene, but Pann’s story and his whole family are just very inspiring. Rubbish is a limited edition, bi-annual magazine Pann and his family create in their spare time (he runs a design agency too). It covers stories and photos from and about, you guessed it, his family.

During the speaker dinner their son and daughter came over to give me a copy of four special editions of the magazine that contains just four pages (it’s tiny too, see paper clip for size). Each edition contains a very short story about/by one of the family members. It’s just too cute and reading through these tiny mags I’m reminded why telling a story on paper is so much more powerful than on screen, even if it’s just a hamster-sized zine.

Now, what was that hand-crafted website you were telling me about?

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The web is a mindset

Decided to publish my editor’s note of issue 8 online. (First published in April 2014.) You can still buy a copy here.

In today’s brave new world where our privacy has become a commodity and tweets can topple governments, it only takes a quick look at the news to realise that geeks rule the world — and I don’t mean that in a melodramatic or self-aggrandising way. The people behind bits and pixels find themselves in a unique place of power.

With the ability to influence millions if not billions of people, we’re facing some difficult questions about the impact and relevance of our work, the role of money, and how both correlate. In the era of Big Data, we are in the challenging position of bringing governments, corporations, and the public onto the same page, so all can work towards a common goal rather than against each other. All the while, we slowly come to terms with the good and bad of a lifestyle that is measurable, marketable, and hackable.

Listening to mainstream media or the average dinner table conversation, it’s easy to get sucked into a trend of scepticism about the web. You don’t have to be of any conservative affiliation to feel wary of ‘the next big thing’. For many of my friends, much of the web has turned into a place that’s made up of fluffy articles and stalking banner ads with the sole purpose of filling investor pockets before our data is gobbled up by freshly IPO’ed tech giants.

Has the web failed us? Have we failed the web?

What’s missing in these bleak assumptions is the realisation that the underlying values of the web permeate through all aspects of modern life. Beyond the sensationalised headlines of overnight billionaires and self- righteous hackers, you’ll still find a community that cares deeply about helping one another.

How else can we explain the altruistic principles of open-source software which in one way or another lie at the basis of almost every interface? It’s an ethos that lives as much in forum threads and shared repositories, as it does in the many conferences, hackathons and co-working spaces around the globe. It’s the ripple effects of our ‘sharing is caring’ culture that cause upheaval in established industries. No startup could exist without them.

Even though as an editor/publisher I’m now coming to terms with the slow-moving wheels of the publishing and print industries, I still feel as much part of the web as ever before. That’s because the real web is not return-on-investment or shareholder value, nor is it follower numbers or the latest shiny gadget.

The web is a mindset — a way of doing things. It’s collaboration and openness. It’s inclusiveness and non-hierarchy. It’s figuring stuff out, being creative and breaking some rules along the way. It’s constant reimagening of the status quo with no need for permission to get involved.

The web has forever changed the way we think about each other. That’s the web I’m part of. And it’s the web Offscreen wants you to see.

Kai Brach

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One of my favourite things to do on Instagram is to find photos of Offscreen in the wild. There is nothing more satisfying for a maker of a physical product than to see their creation being welcomed into other people’s lives and becoming a part of their everyday environment. 

Here are a few of my recent favourites. Please keep them coming! (And tag them with @offscreenmag.) 

Credits top to bottom: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

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San Francisco, there’s a truly alarming bias in how you’re setting up your problems. I see you making the same moral errors and so you keep arriving at the same shitty answers. Given this sweeping quantified-self problem you’ve got going on here, I’m starting to suspect that the only thing you’re disrupting out there is your own sense of human decency. (...) Adulting means demonstrating compassion, even if no one’s willing to pay you for it.

A very good read on how our obsession with data is removing our human perspective on big issues, written by a sociologist.

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This year I’m trying to do a lot less travelling and instead focus on some major changes on Offscreen in the second half of 2016. But when my buddy Jerry Goh from Underscore Magazine asked me if I wanted to speak at his magazine conference The U Symposium in Singapore this March, I couldn’t say no. 

I’m super honoured to share the stage with publishing greats of titles like Kinfolk, Apartamento, Cereal, Wrap, The Happy Reader and others.

Join us in Singapore on March 12th and 13th!

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A recent spring clean brought to the surface a whole box full of swag from the conferences I attended the past couple of years: USB drives, pens, bottle openers, mugs, notebooks, water bottles. At one time, I counted twelve canvas bags dangling on the door knob of my home office, mixed with an equal amount of lanyards. You can guess where most of that stuff ended up.

The swag bag has long been an opportunity for event organisers to 'add value', i.e. to give attendees a surprise gift to take home. And of course, for event sponsors it's a chance to remind you of who paid for the drinks. I understand that there are lots of things to lose sleep over when organising an event, and the swag bag is probably the last one on that list.

However, am I the only one who finds these goodie bags not just very wasteful, but also totally unimaginative? I've pretty much stopped accepting them when I attend conferences these days, even though I feel bad rejecting the friendly volunteer staff that so happily distribute them.

I'm wondering... what if we replaced fancy name badges and lanyards with a simple sticker, the screen-printed canvas bag with a stamped paper bag (Look how artsy-crafty you are!) and invest that money in just one thoughtful item that folks actually want to keep? Instead of cheaply produced merchandise from China, how about something that has a human story to it, something that is made locally and links the event to the place and community it is hosted at? Or perhaps something that directly relates to the theme of your event? Wouldn't that be something to remember?

Yes, I'm saying this because I believe Offscreen is such an item. Whenever a conference puts a copy of Offscreen in the swag bag, I receive a lot of emails telling me about the 'BEST SWAG EVER!' But this post is not only about promoting my magazine. I truly wish we could collectively put an end to the mountain of waste each and every (tech) conference leaves behind. Besides, there are so many amazing products out there, created by independent makers that would love the exposure of being involved in a conference. And sponsors can still put their name to it: just add a note that explains company XYZ made this beautiful gift possible! It's a win win win.

So, if you can think of an (affordable) item/brand that could be a great conference gift, please suggest it to the conference organisers in your city – or perhaps even the sponsors of that conference. Use the tag #madswag so we can all discover some cool stuff! Feel free to link back to this post to provide more background info for organisers/sponsors.

(If you're interested in giving out copies of Offscreen at your conference, please email me with some event info, like the number of attendees and the location. I’m happy to lower the per-copy price substantially, depending on the amount of copies required.)

Bag icon by Alex Fuller via The Noun Project

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I'm happy to announce the launch of Issue 13! As usual, you can purchase your copy or subscription right here. If you are a subscriber, please check your status to make sure your orders don’t overlap before renewing your subscription (or just check your inbox, I sent all Offscreen readers a link to their status page).

I'm writing this post from the airport in Berlin, waiting for my flight back to Melbourne. This trip to Germany wasn't actually planned. I came over on relatively short notice to meet my new printer and to oversee the first Offscreen production at a new facility. It's not that I was unhappy with my old printer (I’ve been with them since issue 1!) but unfortunately it is no more.

New printer

In late November my printer went unusually quiet. At the time, my two main contacts there were on holidays/parental leave, so I didn't think much of it considering that my next issue wasn't due until January. When they returned in December and were able to get in touch with me, I was informed that the company had filed for bankruptcy protection! This really took me (and I guess many of its employees) by surprise – as far as I and many other indie publishers could tell, they were extremely busy most of the time. If you've ever experienced a bankruptcy procedure (as an employee or a client) you know that it's always a lot more complicated than it seems on the outside and that there is never just one single reason. So I’m not sure exactly what led to the collapse, but a few big clients not paying their bills was probably one reason.

You'll be glad to hear that my contacts at that company (who have become friends over the years) have already managed to find positions at other printers in Berlin. One of them actually left a few days before all of this went down and is now heading up a printer called Medialis. That's where I decided to move with Offscreen, since I really enjoyed working with him. 

And so after the Christmas holidays I made my way to Berlin to I spend some time at Medialis, meeting folks and checking in on the printing. Everything is looking great so far. As I’m writing this, the magazine is being bound and individually wrapped. I can’t wait to see the final result. Provided the last few steps go smoothly, none of you should see a difference to previous issues in terms of quality.

Change in page count and price

However, one thing you will notice when you receive your copy is that it feels a little lighter in your hands. That’s because I reduced the page count from 160 to 128 content pages – cutting two of the six lengthy interviews. The main reason behind this decision was to give me a more manageable workload. If you follow me on Twitter and read my blog posts, you will have noticed that I often struggle to get an issue out on time. As I explain in my editor’s note of issue 13, reducing the amount of content and contributors will (hopefully) provide some breathing room for me to try out new things and make some progress on various other ideas I have.

As part of this change, I also reduced the cover price of the magazine to $20 (down from $22). Please note that if you buy your copy at your local stockist rather than online, you may not see the reduction in price if your currency is not USD. There has been a disparity in price due to recent currency fluctuations, which will be adjusted to some extent with the change in USD. The official RRP is USD 20.00, EUR 16.00, and GBP 13.00. As you may already know, by buying your copy of the magazine through this website, the biggest chunk of the cover price stays with me and is directly supporting future issues.

More diverse

I'm glad to say that this is the most diverse issue yet. My previous post on this topic led to a lot of helpful and encouraging emails and new contacts (thank you!). Issue 13 actually started off with more female than male contributors, but by the time all the content was in and the inevitable dropouts had been replaced, the mix balanced out to around 50/50. It's going to be interesting to see how well I can maintain that ratio. Having to find fewer contributors overall (as described above) also helps. Please keep your suggestions coming!

As always, I hope you enjoy the new issue. Change always triggers some positive and some negative reactions. However you feel about the changes above, please do let me know if there is anything I can improve – whether it is in regards to quality, pricing, or the experience online – I’m all ears. Thanks so much! :)

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Issue 13 will be available on January 14th. You can subscribe here. Single issue sales will be available with the launch. 

If you’ve bought a copy online before, you’ll receive an email from us. By the way, don’t forget to change your shipping address if you have a current subscription and have recently moved.

Otherwise make sure you subscribe to our newsletter to be informed about this and future releases.

Photo by David McDowell