Drew! I hope you've found your pants.

That burrito was amazing, but as I haven't been back to San Diego since, I haven't had the chance to enjoy fries in my burrito. (Do they make them in SFO too?) It surely was a highlight of my Valio Con weekend. That, and nearly passing out with an oxygen mask on my way over.

Haha, it's an interesting point you make. I guess the 'print is dead' argument is something that wasn't articulated as often or as well as I and the rest of the print industry make you believe.

I can't point you to an article with that title, but there are tons of journalists that proclaimed the end of newspapers and magazines. You have to go back a little to just after the launch of the iPad to find the biggest naysayers. Remember Wired's 600MB digital magazine edition? At first everyone was like "Holy dead tree, that's the future!" but after a few months people realised that it's completely impractical and, more importantly, it just doesn't give us the same experience as flicking through a mag.

In the years after the iPad came out you saw a LOT of newspapers dying and a lot of mainstream magazines going out of business. You also saw ebooks and the Kindle take over Amazon and traditional book sales declined. At the same time digital ad revenue grew (and still is growing) rapidly. That's why the media world assumed that the time of print is over.

I do think certain parts of the print world will die (like daily newspapers) but that has almost the opposite effect on other parts, like indie publishing. Some more thoughts on that here.

As for what's happening in 5 years... not sure. I could be publishing magazines, or I could be doing something completely different. One of the nice things about our self-taught roles is that we can (have to?!) continue to shape them as much as we like. So who knows what I'll be doing. Pretty sure I'll be a bit old to live out of an RV without pants on, though.

Hey Max! Good question!

I think being a 'jack of all trades' can be a good thing if you work for yourself (perhaps it's even a prerequisite). Being able to do all these different things throughout the day is something I really enjoy. I also find that people in that situation are often more empathetic to various other roles because they can put themselves in other people's shoes more easily.

Sometimes I think about life after Offscreen and I realise that I don't fit into any specific role if I ever want to be employed. At first that's a bit scary. I realised that I'll probably never be a UX design expert or a front-end engineer, but that's ok, because the older I get the less interested I am in doing the hands-on stuff, and I much prefer to take on a managerial role anyway. That's not to say that I no longer want to code or design. It just means that I've happily removed that pressure of constantly keeping up with the latest and greatest.

Working for yourself is tough at times. I'm quite introverted and I happily avoid big groups, so I could easily work from home and not go out for days (other than going for runs). I'm aware of that though and so late last year I joined my friends at a shared office space. I try to get there at least twice a week, which counteracts that loner feeling. ;) But yeah, I miss having a team, for sure!

Surprisingly, since I started publishing and editing a magazine, music has almost completely disappeared from my work day. It's sad I know! But I simply can't concentrate on editing other people's words if there is music playing. It makes me miss the days when I just designed and music was playing pretty much 24-7. :-/

I hear you. I think the most important part is that you have something to say. Nowadays a lot of designers launch magazines to make a nice product, but that product often doesn't have anything valuable to say. Have a clear intent and define your niche early. That's how you ensure to not just make one issue, but actually build up an audience.

It's hard to summarise all the things that go into a magazine. Obviously content is key, so that's what I would focus on first. Locate good content sources (which doesn't necessarily mean that you create it yourself) and then build your publishing ideas around that. What types of features would you like? How much of it is text, photography, illustrations, etc? Create a content plan.

Making the project viable is definitely a challenge. You can try to finance the first issue on Kickstarter (many do), but you'll have to work hard on making future issues sustainable through, for example, a high cover price, ads, sponsors, memberships, events, or a mix of all of those.

And yes, obviously, distribution is always the hardest part (which is not unique to print, but more difficult in the real world). I was lucky enough to have a niche (web/tech) that finds buying their copy online quite natural, so I don't really depend on shops and distributors. Try to build that (online) community early. Build a good website. Share a lot. Connect with people and be authentic.

Have a look at magculture.com. It's an important website for all mag makers.

Hey man,

I think you can find some addresses here : http://www.offscreenmag.com/stockists/#australia

Cheers :)

Thanks! You should come by my shared office space in Fitzroy some time!

Interestingly, I don't get that question very much. To be honest, it would have been a much more relevant question maybe 5 or so years ago when the iPad first appeared on stage and everyone was like "OMG, print is so dead!".

Ironically, the unsolved digital magazine challenge (let's be honest, magazines on tablets stink!) has actually contributed to a revival of print. Not sure if digital designers or people on Designer News are aware, but the indie (print) publishing scene is currently seeing somewhat of a boom. There are new, really inspiring and creative indie mags coming out every day, it seems.

The web and technology has brought us so many awesome things, but there are some things screens just can't replace. Reading long-form on paper still trumps the digital experience, especially when we're talking about magazines. It's a medium where photography, typography, white space, different paper stocks, and its overall tangibility all come together to form a core part of a multi-sensory experience.

I could go on about this, but instead let me quote my proofreader Kieran O'Hare (who is an indie publisher himself):

We have chosen to do this through print, a medium which some have already declared to be moribund. But we have been inspired by a new wave of independent magazine publishers around the world who work hard to prove that the breath of print can do more than fog a mirror. Print can be the vehicle by which we retake for ourselves the quiet contemplation and pure enjoyment of learning about the world around us.

We are bombarded and overwhelmed with electronic ‘content’. It is fleeting, fast-moving, and ultimately transient. How calming and pleasant it is to handle a beautiful magazine: media that we choose to welcome into our lives. We can handle it, touch it, feel it, smell it. When the latest website has receded into the digital din, a magazine is always right there where you last put it down…

No worries! :)

I don't pay interviewees. I think that would be weird and AFAIK is not general practice (unless you are retired CEO of a bank).

Most of the pieces in Offscreen are about people telling their own, very personal story, and so they are to an extent self-promotional. It would be weird to pay people to talk about themselves or their companies.

Besides, I've never been asked for money to interview someone. Have you?