Items are changing
Review commissioned by Zefir7 | January 2009
Over the years, Items has developed into the club magazine of designers in the Netherlands. But even the club magazine, or that in particular, is in need of change. And so Item was uprooted: a new formula, a new format, new paper, new type – with the predictable result that the readership has to adapt. This turns out to raise melancholy in some. The Zefir7 audience was itching to be enlightened about the why and how of the new Items.
Items 1 2009 Cover (design: thonik)
How does one get a magazine onto the rails afresh? Max Bruinsma, with his long experience at Eye’s, was the chief editor dreamt of. And after a brief pitching phase, he selected the Amsterdam studio Thonik (represented tonight by Thomas Widdershoven) for the design. Catchphrases from the briefing: flow, interaction, integration of text and image. Their joint presentation consists of a pdf with spreads from the first issue, already published, and the second, which is still being developed.
Bruinsma en Widdershoven were not very vocal about the quality of previous editions. Questions about what had to stay, and what had to go and why, they have clearly left behind them. But, of course, in every project something has to be picked to oppose yourself to. In this case it was the fonts submitted, which presented strong profiles in earlier issues. From now serviceability will be the magic term.
The first issue of the renewed Items was dropped on our doormats in February this year. The compact format, the choice of paper, and full-surface silver cover stood in stark contrast with the previous design. Instead of the characteristic ligature of the earlier version a T-square now cuts through the new logo. Also, the square returns on several opening pages. Next to it, there are running titles, which should provide the reader with some grip. In this way, as Widderhoven explained, a flow from article to article is created, which guides the reader through the magazine. In the rubric ‘editorial’ there is room for the designer to react to the contents of the article, so that, following Bruinsma’s ideal, interaction occurs between content and form. Thonik also tries to put his stamp on the image editorship, by photographing the books discussed himself. In the second issue some elements have been worked out further, others were given up. Bruinsma & Thonik allow themselves six issues to reach the definitive form. The same goes for the website which is still being developed.
Items 2 2009 cover (design: thonik)The design of each issue will be taken care of within the studio by different designers. In this way the studio as a whole can profit form what is in fact a sponsor commission. For it remains a stumbling block that the Dutch design magazine does nor seem to be ready to be more than an expensive hobby of an idealistic publisher. Bruimsma indeed made the sobering observation that the magazine has difficulty in earning its keep. Why it is that in a design country like the Netherlands a design magazine is unable to pay its way, the audience was not find out this evening. We did learn, though, that 25 per cent of Items is paid for by advertisements, disguised as editorial content, in the rubric ‘Cases’. Initially Thonik demanded that this rubric be discontinued, but the home fires had to be kept burning. Those cases were then allowed to sit in on the dinner as unwelcome but tolerated mothers-in-law.
Thonik, which usually highlights itself with clear, colourful, typographical work, has entered uncharted territory in designing Items. Widderhoven himself considers it an adventure, that the end result does not contain the recognizable Thonic handwriting – far from it. Whether the adventure will turn into a successful one will transpire in the coming months. In any case, Bruinsma and Widdershoven do not seem to be very wiling to the disclose their motives. A large number of questions remain unanswered and the audience did not force the presenters into more openness. Every two months the pair will get a chance to prove themselves in a medium that is possibly more comfortable than a lecture – showing where it matters: on the pages of Items.