The Skaaren Design Blog

5 Magazines for the Modern Graphic Designer in the New Year

Contrary to popular belief, print is not dead. In fact, to the modern graphic designer, print as a format might be more important than ever. Despite the many advantages of the web, print still does one thing better, it doesn’t over load us with complete shit. Print magazines have a finite amount of space and they are expensive to print. These two factors alone create a barrier of entry much higher than web publications, and therefore only the best of the best (or the committed of the committed) are published within beautiful inked and colored pages. This, my friends, is the magic and brilliance of print. Say what you want about the future of the medium, print makes the world a better place, gives us a barrier of entry—something to break through—and a level of excellence to live up to.

The following five magazines are those that live up to the high ideals of print, and are well worth the subscription rate.

P.S. For the purpose of this post, I’m going to assume that most of you already read the magazines Print, How, Communication Arts, and the magazine we all get force fed in design school and through organizations like AIGA and the Graphic Design Guild.

1. Azure
Azure covers design and, in their words, defines design. A bold statement to be sure, but they could be right. In it’s pages, Azure profiles the world of designers and architects. It informs how we relate to the broader society and how we define beautiful and useful ways of living. Above all, it helps us envision a better, more sustainable and expressive future. What designer doesn’t need that perspective?

2. Monocle
Monocle is not a a design magazine in the traditional sense. As a matter of fact, it’s a culture magazine that covers all kinds of topics ranging from global affairs, business, culture, and design. It’s smart, sharp, and very well-written. If you want to design for the world you have to understand it and reading Monocle is a good place to start. Ironically it’s not very well designed, so just hold your nose and dive in. You’ll be a better designer for it. Remember that sometimes a bad example of design can be a great example of what not to do. But in terms of content, this magazine is amazing.

3. Uppercase
Uppercase is a great magazine for, as they put it, the creative and the curious. Filled with a little bit of everything, Uppercase is an amazing read and a great visual experience.

4. Form
Form is a magazine dedicated to the making of design. What more can you ask for? With content ranging from editorial design, product design, architecture, and basically everything else. This could very well be the holy bible of international graphic design.

5. Adbusters
Adbusters is a great magazine. Cutting through all the bullshit, it deals with the cultural impact that advertising and design has on people, and the power of control they have. They have dubbed themselves culture jammers, working to change the way information flows, the way corporations wield power and the way meaning is produced in our society.

Honorable Mention:

6. CMYK
CMYK is basically a magazine for design students and is often over looked by working professionals. For my money, CMYK is the best design magazine on American newsstands, and stands head and shoulders above magazines like Print and How because of the way it highlights unbridled work and pure creativity. There is nothing better than getting inspiration from people who don’t know what they don’t know… students. (That’s sincere and not a knock on their abilities or their work). I honestly think, pound for pound, the work highlighted in CMYK is better than the work in many other traditional and well-respected design magazines. I say that also in part because I would rather see the work of bright students reaching for the stars rather than professionals trying to win awards.

As always your thoughts and comments are welcome.