Insights from magCulture 2024
Seeking a boost of creativity, Guzzle editor Jane Gleeson attended the 10th magCulture Live—here’s what she took away from it.
Some people obsess over their favourite directors, becoming subject-matter experts in their films, while others set out to conquer the world of collectables, from vintage stamps to classic cars. For Jeremy Leslie, the creator of magCulture, printed matter is his holy grail and magazine creators his disciples.
I first reached out to Jeremy a year ago with an email that now makes me cringe. Thankfully, he saw potential in our young magazine and has since become one of Guzzle’s stockists. Besides selling publications in their thoughtfully curated store in Farringdon, magCulture supports the indie publishing community with a podcast and an events programme that inspires and connects creators.
After travelling along the Elizabeth Line to Bond Street, I edged through the glass doors at the Vitsœ furniture store in Marylebone, feeling a mix of first-day nerves and weariness from my role as magazine editor. I’ve hinted on Insta that managing an unfunded publication alone is tricky but despite the challenges, the work is incredibly rewarding.
Jeremy opened the event by stating that "magazines are in a strong position creatively" and went on to introduce the 2024 theme: the two-page spread. After attending magCulture Live, I feel like I'm finally getting back into the rhythm. If you're craving a similar boost, here are a few nuggets to help you get back on track.
Nothing compares to tangible storytelling
Print media offers an experience you can't replicate on screen. Lucy Rober likens the quality of lithograph printing on the pages of Erotic Review to a work of art. While Shira Inbar, creator of the A24 zine, captures this sentiment perfectly, saying, “you’re invited to stop for a moment… and just dive in.” The tangible nature of a magazine allows readers to appreciate form in ways that digital editions will never achieve.
Allow worlds to spill into one another
Many speakers emphasised a common theme: the creative crossover between mediums—moving image to print, written word to audio, and so on. This is central to Shira Inbar’s work with the A24 zine, and also to Mubi’s print publication, Notebook, led by creative director Davide Cazzaro. Neither publication aims to recreate a story; instead, they build on the cinematographic experience, blurring boundaries to create something that resonates across formats.
When you’re neither an editor nor a designer, you are an architect of it all and also of nothing.
Your role isn’t linear
, the strategist behind Stockholm’s Playground magazine, reflected, “when you’re neither an editor nor a designer, you are an architect of it all and also of nothing.” Transitioning from another field into indie publishing can feel daunting—liaising with distributors, selecting printers, and everything in between. Inbar describes this liminal role as “being an and, not an or.” For those of us wearing many hats, it’s a reminder that our role can be as complex as the work we produce.
Step into your reader’s shoes
Good design requires empathy for the user but things can sometimes get in the way, be it form over function or ego over soul. Clarke Rudick, editor of the fashion and culture magazine Crosscurrent, believes in curating the reader’s experience, visualising what they think and feel when they peruse each page. This reader-centric approach serves as a reminder: without the reader, a magazine is just paper.
Embrace chaos
I remember reading James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and grappling with his stream-of-consciousness style. NGL, it was a bit of a headfuck. Chris O’Leary took a similar approach, channelling the loss of his mother into stream-of-consciousness cooking, which he documented in Fatboy Zine. For graphic design guru, Richard Turley, a magazine’s human side emerges when it lets go of rigid consistency. Sometimes, disorder creates beautiful chaos.
Channel grief into something great
While Chris’s work shows one way of processing pain, others, like Nina Carter and Anna Morrissey, turn angst into powerful new narratives. Carter took inspiration for the title of It’s Freezing in LA! from Donald Trump’s infamous climate-denial tweet 🤦, while Tummy Ache speaks to Morrissey’s experiences with mental health, exploring how “the language I needed was outside my emotional vernacular.”
To learn more about the incredible work Jeremy and the magCulture team do daily, visit magculture.com.