Think Global, Act Local 2: Visual Research
I started my visual research for Think Global Act Local by going to the St Peters House Library, and looking at the magazines they had there.
Novum
Novum is a 95 year old graphic design magazine. It read to me more like a conventional newspaper or magazine than some of these other visual communication publications, and in that respect, it followed more layout rules and had more to say, both visually and linguistically, about pragmatic page layout and magazine design.
Aperture
I loved this copy of Aperture Magazine entitled “Ballads of Sexual Dependancy”. The heavy emphasis on serif type and old-fashioned minimalistic black and white layout night only worked to highlight the photography and bring it to life, but also made the text very easy to digest, and the narrative very easy to follow. Mixing typefaces very subtly with a Comic-sans style sans-serif font made subheadings stand out, and very easy to digest.
The margins in this issue of Aperture are wide and lots of empty space is left surrounding the photography. It may have been a nudge to a wide-border photography framing style, or at least that’s how it can feel when you read this issue. Some pages utilise a black background, and these moments are chosen wisely, the photography on said pages curated for maximum visual impact, the vibe becoming even more shockingly lustful and sultry.
This magazine was very tastefully designed indeed, and has given me a lot of inspiration for the Think Global Act Local project.
Varoom
Varoom is an illustration magazine. This issue has got to be one of the most visually intriguing and satisfying magazines I have ever picked up. This issue gave illustrators a chance to show some of their practice with no pressure to show a definite narrative or story tell; simply to illustrate for the sake of it.
Foam
Foam is an internationally published photography magazine - three times a year, a specific theme is chosen, and photography showcased from creatives of all different origins and walks of life. I found this issue’s page layout to be really captivating - it is immersive. It lets you get lost in the worlds of the photos, designing the backgrounds of pages in distinct ways so as to pull you in. I thought the page layout was innovative and quirky. It caught my eye.
After I’d flicked through some publications, Luna’s idea to have our magazine in duochrome came up. If we used two colours to tie all our different pages together, we could create something very stylistically cohesive, and something the reader could really get lost in - that was a perfect style to print with a risograph printer. I looked at some riso printed publications for inspiration.
These publication pages are all by InkyGoodness.
By Ryan Putnam
By Kate Prior
By Cinema of the Sick
By Mary Universe
Here is an interesting series of book covers I found by Draw Down Books.
The above pages are by Pivot Print.
This is a zine called Infinite Regression.
N - M Zine by Waste Studio
Space Invasion by Gemma Davis.
It’s Freezing in LA! a magazine about climate change.
Paradiso magazine by Muse Muse
By Andrej and Andrej
By 6′56
By Travis Kane
Tractor Zine by Tractor Beam (Amazing work! This is my favourite thing I’ve found.)
