Would Australia's proper graphic design magazine please stand up
Posted by Michael Bojkowski on 06th January 2010
Graphic Design magazines are an awesome source of inspiration for Graphic Designers. Natch. And just as each country has it's graphic design community so too each country has a Graphic Design magazine or two to support them. It's assumed that Australia is well serviced by publications catering for creative professionals but do any of these titles actually speak to Graphic Designers in a way that engages and celebrates this hard working and often under appreciated sector? Grab the endoscope, we're going in…
Desktop never meant to cater for Graphic Designers. As the name suggests, it was originally set up to attract a new generation of pseudo professionals known as 'desktop publishers' that emerged in the early 1990s. For those too young to remember, desktop publishers were a group of amateur enthusiasts thrust into the headlights of the personal computing revolution bought about by the Apple Mac and programs such as Ready Set Go, Quark and Pagemaker. Business soon decided that 'desktop publishers' were a bit of a flash in the pan and pretty useless when it came to creative problem solving and they soon begin to disappear.
What's a mag to do when it's intended audience dissolves but reinvent itself which it did reasonably convincingly in the late 1990s by involving actual members of the local design community and getting them to contribute editorial content to the mag. Hurrah! When, where and why this remit changed I'm not sure — mainly because I headed overseas for a number of years and Australian magazines seldom travel outside our countries borders. The Desktop you see today is a shadow of it's former self and seemingly oblivious to the fact that it's audience has dissipated.
I hear Graphic Designers asking who Desktop is for. It's certainly not for them, in fact, you get the impression that the magazine is kind of bored by Graphic Design and it's practitioners. It has the aura of a stroppy teen more interested in sailor tattoos and 'street art' than anything as po-faced as the practice of Graphic Design. The fact that several issues went ahead without any creatives attached to the masthead seems to speak volumes. So if Desktop's uninterested in being Australia's graphic representative then maybe it's…
Australian Creative. Now you're thinking, I understand the Australian bit. but what do they mean by 'creative'? Unless you're a said 'creative', of course, in which case you're probably working within or very close to an advertising agency of some sort. So you could be a Graphic Designer, or you might be a photographer, or a moving image producer or a media buyer or… well, there's loads of so-called 'creatives' within the ranks of Australia's army of advertisers. I'm showing my ignorance a little here because it's never been a field I've been terribly interested in, mainly because creativity in advertising tends to be so throwaway. It doesn't have a remit to enhance people's lives through better design. It is used mainly to persuade, distract and/or agitate and once this has occurred there is little left for it to do.
In many cases advertising operates under the guise of selling something when really it's simply being ignored by an increasingly savvy audience with decades of being sold to under their belts. This is not to say Autralian Creative has n't been supportive of the Graphic Design industry in Australia. Many a maverick (and decidedly male) Graphic Designer has graced it's cover in the past, something I now find a little deceptive. Often a very slender volume, this is a magazine with the attention span of… well, of an advertising executive. Hardly a champion of 'better design for all Australians' but points for feigning an interest, even if it is fleeting. Which brings us to…
Artichoke could be the closest thing Graphic Design has to a champion in this country. Firstly, it's rigorously and intelligently designed, which makes for a massive departure from the aforementioned mags, whose editorial design has been on a steady downwards slope for a number of years. Secondly, it's has a much wider remit due to it's association with the Design Institute of Australia (an organisation that could do with a bit of a 'visual refresh' itself – c'mon you were all thinking it, weren't you). What prevents it from taking it's rightful place as Australia's premiere international Graphic Design magazine are two things…
Firstly, Artichoke falls into a trap Design organisations and businesses all over Australia often do. It puts Architecture and Interior Design on a pedestal and expects anything else to compete with them for attention. This is something legendary and now defunct British magazine, 'Design' used to do BACK IN THE 1950s when it was produced for the 'Council of Industrial Design'. The blame for this can't really be laid at Artichoke's door though. This is a cultural effect unique to Australia. We simply place a higher value on physical structures of a certain size and scale. Things that openly display the amount of hard work and labour that has gone into it. Often Graphic Design is simply too subtle for it's own good. After all, if you follow the train of thought that when graphic design is successful it becomes invisible, you can start to see where they're coming from.
The second point, which again seems like another unique cultural anomaly, is that Australian magazines simply don't travel overseas. Think about the Graphic Design magazines you like and buy and I bet they all have solid distribution outside their countries of origin. Try finding an Australian Design magazine overseas and it's near impossible. Is this an issue of distribution or confidence? What do you think?
So what's the solution? Well, either someone needs to invent a new title that truly represents Australian Graphic Designers or the editors of these mags need to take a stand a tell everyone that 'actually, I'm quite interested in Graphic Design and think it's worth investigating and talking about' cause until that happens us mad Graphic Designer types are just going to have keep shelling out for those über expensive overseas titles that continue to inspire us so much more.
1. By marcusp on 10th January 2010 @ 8.01 AM
Here here Michael! Though there have been some great Australian magazine's which have gained solid international distribution / recognition off-shore.
There is some world class work being done in this country and by Aussie's abroad - so I don't think it's the confidence, I think it's being brave enough to make the leap to a press. The collective 'we' are featured across the globe on-line for our creative endeavors but to put it all together in one bound edition has the potential to blow some minds.
2. By jamesb on 10th January 2010 @ 4.01 PM
It is quite annoying that there is no real Australian Graphic Design magazine but I wonder if there is even a big enough market to make such a publication viable. I mean as far as Australia goes we are a small population and you also have to take into account that graphic design is only a small industry.
For us to sit back and blame these other publications I think is a little weak at the end of the day. I mean anyone of us could really go ahead and do something ourselves. So many great publications have come out of Australia starting on crazy low budgets but just people passionate enough to get out there and do it!
3. By bojkowski on 10th January 2010 @ 11.01 PM
Hey James
I think you just answered your own question there. Sure the 'industry audience' might be smaller in comparison to other countries but, like you said, passionate people can do wonders with low budgets. Also, why do you automatically assume an Australian produced Graphic Design publication need only appeal to other Australians and no one else. I'd even go as far to say that there is a very design literate audience out there today that aren't necessarily all designers either.
4. By Jen_Melb on 11th January 2010 @ 1.01 PM
Agree with you on many of these points Michael, particularly the last point about Artichoke being the magazine of choice amongst the three you have mentioned. Perhaps it is simply a matter of Artichoke doing a re-think of its agenda, target audiences and organisational affiliations?
Despite its membership being open to the Graphic Design arena, the DIA also places emphasis on catering to its Interior Design / Architectural member base which I think is (probably duly) represented in the content structure of Artichoke as it is today. An alliance with say AGDA (or similar) and a greater degree of editorial real estate allocated to the GD profession could prove to be just what the industry is after?
Design Victoria recently published a report indicating that there needs to be more emphasis on the cross-disciplinary nature of the various design professions so this could also be a way to tackle that, rather than reinventing the wheel entirely? Just my thoughts.
5. By jamesb on 11th January 2010 @ 1.01 PM
Have you looked at making one yourself Michael? It seems to be something you are very passionate about, maybe it is even something AIF could look at doing as a whole even if it was produced like 3 monthly or something.
6. By bojkowski on 12th January 2010 @ 9.01 PM
Heya Jen: Ace idea. How cool would it be if Artichoke developed some sort of affiliation with AGDA. Not only could they increase their page count but they might then be brave enough to find new audiences outside Australia to promote Australian design to. I hope someone there is listening (fingers crossed).
James: Stranger things have happened.
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