Magculture - Unit editions

In the christmas break there was the opportunity to go to the Unit Editions and Spin (Adrian Shaughnessy & Tony Brook) talk on their new book Impact 1.0 & 2.0 about the history of graphics magazines and journals at the Magculture shop in London set up by print enthusiast Jeremy Leslie. 

In truth the publication was not overly inspiring and was almost a collection of magazine that needed further explanation and made you want to buy them without being able to. However as all the examples are about design they showed a real experimentation and a freedom that is not often seen in magazine covers, they seemed to represent what could be seen as the pinnacle of design for the time.  

During the talk there was an opportunity to talk to both Tony Brook and Jeremy Leslie. As Tony Brook was sitting next to us in the talk he asked us what we thought of the book and where we were studying etc. We also spoke about the designer Lance Wyman as I was going to get a book by Spin and Unit Editions on Lance Wyman at Christmas, Tony explained that he had taken many of the photos himself and that the book was a fantastic insight into the designers work. He also explained that in terms of a practice he is so innovative for example he would draw constantly, if he was on a plane he would sketch a plane if he was in coach he would draw a coach, this constant analysis of the world around him is fundamental to Lance Wymans practice. 

Speaking to Jeremy Leslie was much easier as we had spoken before at a MagCulture event as well as a EDO talk. We spoke much more formally about how the shop was going, me and Ed with helped set up the room for the talk. Jeremy being so vocal about his love of print and a real spokesperson for magazines and publications in general could be an interesting person to interview for studio brief 02.

Additionally I spoke to a young designer working for Unit Editions about his journey after graduating and remaining true to your style. He had only just recently graduated in 2015 and explained that it took a year of searching to finally get to Unit Editions, he explained that he sent his portfolio when Unit advertised that they were hiring an intern and as he impressed during the first week they offered him a job. He expressed the importance of being friendly and open about your work and that being passionate goes further than anything.

Overall this talk offered a great chance to speak to professionals and hopefully try and make some contacts for future.