PRINTciples of publishing – first hand insights and lessons from production to page
Print is dead is dead! Do it right, and it’s livelier than ever. To celebrate the publication of Strike magazine, the Stranger team shares four lessons learnt while creating a variety of print magazines over the last five years – from an experimental literary anthology to an innovative internal magazine for a global tech company…
LESSON 1: EMBRACE CONSTRAINT
“Doing independent print publishing well is all about being nimble enough to exploit the creative angles the printed page presents.”
Strike magazine, designed by Ellie Russell and Dion Star
Lesson written by Paul Dicken
Odd as it seems to say, barracked by the open, apparently free, nature of digital communication and the environmental weight of using resources, print today is full of opportunity. Opportunity created by constraint.
Yes, any creative project is constrained: budget, time, resources and medium are always in the mix. But with print (particularly sustainable print) we add to it. How do we keep impact minimal? Where can we reduce cost? What content choices can we make to construct a publication that is both lean and compelling? These can be limiting decisions, or they can be liberating. Because good independent print is about finding the upsides in the down: publishing that is inventive, different and enjoyable.
Strike magazine – which has existed as an independently published occasional digital magazine for eight issues – went hybrid for issue nine. We put magazine features into a beautifully designed 48pp printed journal, with tangential Sparks online for a fluid, multimedia reader experience. This meant longer, thoughtful, unplugged reading on a two-colour printed page, with new ideas to explore afterwards through audio, film, visual and other content in related digital posts navigated direct from the printed page through Sparks QR codes.
“How do we keep impact minimal? Where can we reduce cost? What content choices can we make to construct a publication that is both lean and compelling? These can be limiting decisions, or they can be liberating.”
The final publication is the result of smelting design and editorial ideas with the constraints of how many pages we could print, inks we could use and paper we could source in a print process that would be sustainable and affordable.
We chose risograph print at Roots Press, not far from us in Porthtowan, Cornwall. The paper is produced in Devon, using recycled materials, and two striking ink colours that are soy based and air-dried. Printing two-colour kept costs down while also giving a unifying theme to the publication and the beautiful illustrations we commissioned (thanks Peach Doble, Sunny Wu, Rachel Hayden and Ellen Paige Leach!).
Doing independent print publishing well is all about being nimble enough to exploit the creative angles the printed page presents, and not being afraid to ditch an idea or grasp an opportunity as it arises.??
LESSON 2: PLAY WITH FEATURE FORMAT TO CAPTURE IMAGINATIONS
“Find interesting ways to tease out stories, information and insights from subject-matter experts to create articles people will be fascinated to read.”
Analog Reading Material magazine for Arm , designed by Cai Taylor and Kyn Taylor
Lesson written by Helen Gilchrist
While we’ve always been interested in tech developments, winning the opportunity to create a new magazine for Arm’s 6,000+ team members in 52 countries called for some serious swotting up. Semiconductor design. Microchip architecture. AI. Low power computing. Big data. Neural networks. And on and on…
A good editorial team is never expected to know it all. But it should be able to find interesting ways to tease out stories, information and insights from subject-matter experts, and distil them into accessible and relatable articles that people will be fascinated to read.
Arm has subject-matter experts by the bucketload. But it also has a really lively and distinctive culture, which the magazine needed to capture and feed for its far-flung teams. So, we set ourselves the challenge of finding (and experimenting with) different formats to bring Arm’s stories to life.
“Whether it’s boardgames, Desert Island Discs, or TV shows that give you inspiration, play around with different formats, structures and visual approaches to tell your stories in compelling ways.”
Going beyond straight interview features, we created imaginative (and humorous) infographics, talking bookshelves and alternative timelines; analysed AI through the golden rules of comedy; designed robot-versus-supercomputer illustrated Top Trumps style cards; and set up an intergenerational conversation between three engineers who shaped the smartphone revolution, and three ‘smartphone natives’ living in its influence…
As well as creating intrigue to draw readers in, these different formats gave our brilliant designers lots to play around with – ensuring a distinctive visual style that made the most of the printed magazine medium.
So, whether it’s boardgames, Desert Island Discs, or TV shows that give you inspiration, play around with different formats, structures and visual approaches to tell your stories in compelling ways and break up dense chunks of text.
LESSON 3: SEEK COLLABORATORS WITH DIFFERENT VIEWPOINTS TO CREATE DISTINCTIVE EXPERIENCES AT EVERY INTERACTION
“Leverage the power of working with big thinkers, to bring unusual ideas to life.”
领英推荐
The Tilt, designed by Phyllida Bluemel
Lesson written by Hazel Beevers
In this age of instant communication, constant video streams and 24-hour rolling news, there’s something about the touch, smell and feel of a printed publication. Our first foray into riso print, co-produced with The Literary Platform,?The Tilt?was designed to be a collectible artefact, in celebration of the printed word.
A physical accompaniment to The Lit, an online literary journal, The Tilt showcased new writing in an illustrated collection that?centred around belonging, identity and inequality in the publishing industry.
Distinctive in its unusual physicality, the publication took the form of six individual booklets held together with a wraparound cover – made for diving into in an offline, sunny corner somewhere. Each of the six ‘chapters’ was dedicated to and conceived by an exciting new author from The Literary Platform’s mentorship scheme; Lit:Up.
Unlike many anthologies, there was no theme or demographic in mind. What the Lit:Up authors chose to write, and who else they chose to contribute to their chapter, was their decision – illustrators, poets and published novelists (including award-winning writers Yara Rodrigues Fowler, Wyl Menmuir and Amy Lillwall) responded to each author’s original work. The Lit:Up mentees were the sparks that set the wheel in motion.
“There was no theme or demographic in mind. What the Lit:Up authors chose to write, and who else they chose to contribute to their chapter, was their decision.”
But this publication didn’t stop at the written word. Collaborating with innovative print and audio publishers?No Bindings, each chapter had an audio accompaniment, which could be listened to in six languages (from Lithuanian to Spanish and Gujarati), each with a bespoke musical score. This content was brought to life through Grapevine technology, accessed by scanning images on the printed page with a smartphone.
Printed in six different coloured inks (one for each chapter) by North London’s Earthbound Press, and featuring custom illustrations by?Esther McManus,?Danielle Doobay?and Miranda Latimer, the project leant into and leveraged the power of working with big thinkers, to bring unusual ideas to life. Through its content, The Tilt reveals so much more than initially meets the eye – including voices and languages that aren’t heard enough in mainstream publishing.
LESSON 4: ALLOW TIME FOR FEEDBACK, AT EVERY STAGE OF THE PROCESS
“If in doubt, it’s always sensible to bake in extra time for approvals and amends, to avoid unexpected delays knocking things off track.”
Kodachrome magazine for Kodak designed by Cai Taylor and Kyn Taylor
Lesson written by Clare Howdle
When you’re creating a brand publication, things inevitably take longer than on a passion project. Even if you’re responsible for ideating, commissioning, editing, designing and subediting all the content, there’s an extra pair of eyes to consider. Or, usually, more than one pair.
Produced between 2016 and 2018, Kodachrome magazine was a quarterly journal for Kodak that celebrated creativity in all its forms – inspired by the humanity and craft of the analogue movement. From diving into the technicalities of Technicolor; to interviewing the likes of Spike Lee, Patty Jenkins and Michael Kiwanuka; talking to neon experts in Hong Kong to discussing colour theory with academics far smarter than we could hope to be, Kodachrome took us through countless creative disciplines and time zones in pursuit of a killer feature. But each piece had a brief it needed to meet, shaped by a brand truth it needed to align with.
The best brand publishing is strategic and purposeful – and just like our print project with Kodak, your client will always have an eye on that strategy to make sure the publications you produce deliver. They’ll have feedback that needs responding to. And not just when the project is nearing completion. Identifying and working in collaboration with a clientside editor from the outset ensures they can be as involved as they want – from contributing ideas to introducing contacts.
“The best brand publishing is strategic and purposeful, and your client will always have an eye on that strategy to make sure the publications you produce deliver.”
With projects like these, we often start at the editorial brainstorming stage, sharing and vetting ideas together before developing them into a full editorial content list and individual feature commissions. Our clients review the final editorial list before commissioning, review again when the copy comes in (once it’s been through a Stranger editor), and once again when it’s been laid out in design. This keeps the content on track and nips any potential challenges in the bud at key points in the process.
It’s also sensible to plan out at the beginning who’ll need approval of what, then schedule in time for it so they know it’s coming – and to keep the production flow moving on schedule. On Kodachrome, we worked closely with a client editor, but above him, senior executives also wanted a review of the full magazine before it went to press. They had a more holistic business vantage point and so would often have changes, however small, that needed to be taken into consideration. If in doubt, it’s always sensible to bake in extra time for approvals, to avoid unexpected delays knocking things off track.
And of course, with many pairs of eyes and perspectives comes the potential for a curve ball. A sudden desire to change based on movement in the business, or a relationship that needs nurturing or celebrating. It’s what led to the last-minute cover change on Kodachrome #4, and a lot of fast decisions on how to reframe the issue and its content.
If you’re ever in this position with your publication project, remember this belongs to the brand – it’s their voice that matters. They have the last say on what runs and it’s your job to offer guidance, push back if you feel it's necessary, but then ultimately do the very best you can with whatever they finally choose.
+
Strike issue 9, Tilt and archive copies of Stranger magazine (where it all began!) are available now from the Stranger shop.
Find out more about our brand and indie publishing projects –