Ernst van der Hoeven and Kirsten Algera, the creative team behind MacGuffin talk to Jeremy Leslie as their 12th issue, The Log, arrives in shops; Alison Branch, managing director of Park Communications, discusses a new book designed to help clients print sustainably, and we hear an excerpt from a recent shop event featuring Jonathan Simons of Analog Sea Review.

Before we meet our guests, Jeremy Leslie gives a quick update on magCulture news, and introduces some exciting new arrivals at the magCulture Shop including The Paper, Pact, Vestoj, Printed Fashion and Backstage Talks.

MacGuffin quickly established itself as an indie benchmark with its 2016 launch. The 12 issues to date provide a perfect example of the vitality and innovation that is possible in the indepdendent sector when a strong idea is expertly executed in terms of all the basic aspects of a magazine: story research, commissioning, art direction, design and production. Ernst and Kirsten discuss the magazine’s roots, its role as an anti-design magazine, and the new issue, revealing the combination of big idea and detail required to make MacGuffin tick.

London printer Park Communications have supported our Podcast for several years. They have just published ‘Sustainable Print Design’, a guide to making sure your print project is as environmentally friendly as possible. MD Alison Branch joins us to explain more about the the project, which is available as a free download from their website, or in print from the magCulture Shop.

The final segement of the episode is an excerpt from our recent magCulture Meets Analog Sea Review event. Founder Jonathan Simons explains his anti-digital position, reading from the introduction to the latest issue of ASR, and revealing his initial obsession with his iPhone 1.

We’re grateful to our friends at Park Communications for their support of the magCulture Podcast. Find them online at www.parkcom.co.uk

https://www.macguffinmagazine.com

Analog Sea Review does not have a website.



Audio produced and edited by Sam Williams

Episode 35 • Ernst and Kirsten, MacGuffin • Alison Branch, Park • Jonathan Simons, Analog Sea Review

This episode features major players from two different areas of magazine publishing. 

First, Rob Orchard, co-founder of Delayed Gratification, discusses reaching the landmark 50th issue of the original slow journalism indie. 

Then Gail Bichler, creative director of The New York Times Magazine and one of the most successful and influential editorial designers of our time, shares her thoughts on collaboration, team chemistry and the digital-first direction of her award-winning magazine as it approaches a redesign.

We’re grateful to our friends at Park Communications for their support of the magCulture Podcast. Find them online at www.parkcom.co.uk

www.slow-journalism.com

www.nytimes.com/section/magazine

Audio produced and edited by Sam Williams

Episode 36 • Gail Bichler, The New York Times Magazine • Rob Orchard, Delayed Gratification

We learn about two very different magazines this episode, the common thread being events and tenth anniversaries.

After Jeremy and Danielle give an update on the 10th anniversary edition of magCulture Live, London, and discuss a few current magazines favourites from our shelves (including Disco Pogo, WePresent and Litt), Jeremy talks to Penny Martin, editor-in-chief of The Gentlewoman. Their 28th issue has just been published, but the focus of the conversation is The Gentlewoman Club, which launched ten years ago. Penny explains its origins and selects some highlight events from that first decade.

Then we switch to an interview recorded live at the tenth anniversary edition of the Indiecon festival in Hamburg. Jeremy spoke to two of the team from Indian art and design newspaper The Irregular Times—co-founder Tarini Sethi and features editor Vasudhaa Narayanan. They discuss the Indian indie scene and the origins and development of their publication.

We’re grateful to our friends at Park Communications for their support of the magCulture Podcast. Find them online at www.parkcom.co.uk

www.thegentlewoman.co.uk
www.theirregulartimes.com
www.indiecon-festival.com

Audio produced and edited by Sam Williams

Episode 37 • Penny Martin and 10 years of The Gentlewoman Club • The Irregular Times

This episode features two of the international guests that spoke at our recent magCulture Live London 2023 event. Both joined us a couple of days after the event to discuss their publications in more detail, revealing a shared passion for print.

After a brief reflection on magCulture Live from Jeremy and Danielle, and a look at some recent new magazines, we hear from our two guests.

Debra Bishop is design director of the New York Times Kids, a brilliant award-winning broadsheet monthly distributed with the weekend newspaper. She talks about her career to date—including Rolling Stone and Martha Stewart—and her approach to designing the broadsheet. She also talks about the Print is Dead podcast, which she helped set up with Patrick Mitchell.

Maya Moumne is a principal member of the team behind Beirut-based magazines Journal Safar and Al Hayya. She discusses what first attracted her to print, and the difficulties of producing politically ambitious magazines in the South West Asia and North Africa area.

We’re grateful to our friends at Park Communications for their support of the magCulture Podcast. Find them online at www.parkcom.co.uk


Audio produced and edited by Sam Williams

Episode 38 • Debra Bishop, New York Times Kids • Maya Moumne, Journal Safar & Al Hayya

This episode looks at the role of illustration in publishing, with two guests whose magazines rely on drawn images to bring their pages to life. 

Cathy Olmedillas launched her ‘happy mag for kids’ Anorak 18 years ago, and has developed an international audience for its colourfully themed quarterly editions. The magazine is also one of a set that launched early in the noughties that can be viewed today as the ‘original’ indies. She discusses Anorak’s origins, its longevity, the power of illustration, and why her young audience still enjoy a magazine despite the lure of the smartphone. She also reveals the best place to get a pistachio ice cream in London.

Charles Baker edits The Fence, another quarterly packed with illustration. The magazine mixes humour, investigation and fiction in a manner reminiscent of both the 18th century London news sheets and more recent US titles such as Spy. He discusses the role of illustration in bringing stories to life as well as providing a visual identity to his magazine.

We’re grateful to our friends at Park Communications for their support of the magCulture Podcast. Find them online at www.parkcom.co.uk

Audio produced and edited by Sam Williams

Episode 39 • Illustration • Cathy Olmedillas, Anorak • Charles Baker, The Fence

This episode’s guests came to publishing via very different routes. 

First up, Jonathan Nunn, outspoken founder of food Substack Vittles, joins Jeremy at the magCulture Shop. To mark the fifth anniversary of the newsletter, he’s published the first print edition of Vittles, a chunky piece of publishing that builds on the strengths of the digital platform, echoing the theme of our recent magCulture Live NYC25—The Return to Print. Jonathan discusses the origins of his print edition and the buzz of making a magazine for the first time.

He’s followed by the three-person team from Pleasant Place, who talked to Jeremy at Offprint London, where they were launching the seventh issue of their magazine about the art of gardening. Guus Kaandorp, Floor Kortman and Lou-Lou van Staaveren discuss the positioning of Pleasant Place, the origins of the name, collaborating as a trio, and the gardening world’s love-hate relationship with topiary.

We’re grateful to our friends at Park Communications for their support of the magCulture Podcast. Find them online at www.parkcom.co.uk

www.vittlesmagazine.com
https://pleasantplace.space

Audio produced and edited by Sam Williams

New tracks tagged #EditorialDesign