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AMA: Elliot Jay Stocks, co-founder of Lagom magazine, founder of 8 Faces magazine, former Creative Director of Adobe Typekit

over 7 years ago from Elliot Jay Stocks, Co-founder of Lagom magazine, founder of 8 Faces magazine

  • Max LindMax Lind, over 7 years ago

    Hey Elliot - thanks for joining us! Couple random questions for you...

    • This probably comes up a lot, but what are your thoughts on the resurgence in print magazines? (specifically design related, but other industries as well) --- and have costs/options to print become less expensive/easier?

    • Is there any correlation between user's interest in digital news --> print magazines as there is from digital music --> vinyl? (or is that a complete stretch? ;)

    • What print magazines do you follow/enjoy?

    • Going from working at Adobe to working for yourself, how has your workflow changed? (or has it not? :) --- anything from the tools you use, to the time you work, to the tasks you complete.

    • With a wide variety of design experience, do you notice yourself missing certain things you no longer partake in day to day? (i.e. working on the magazine makes you miss branding work for clients)

    3 points
    • Elliot Jay Stocks, over 7 years ago

      Thanks for the invite, Maxwell! And the questions, too.

      • When I started 8 Faces in 2010, it seemed like a crazy idea to start a print magazine. Not only was I a web designer, but everyone was going crazy for digital everything, especially iPad magazines. But I did it because I wanted to create something that would last; something that put me in touch with the physical world. And shortly after that, there was a huge rise in new independent magazines. Now, don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying it was because of 8 Faces by any means; more that 8 Faces and publications of its ilk were / are a product of internet culture. That is, there are a load of people like me who wanted to create something more meaningful than a fleeting screen-based design. (I don’t think costs or options have become cheaper or easier than they were beforehand, but there’s at least an awareness now for what’s possible, and actually print isn’t as scary or expensive as most people assume.)
      • I believe absolutely that there’s a correlation between the move from digital news to print and digital music to vinyl. Definitely. It’s that same desire to have a closer relationship with the medium. You could argue that there’s a general trend for all things retro (like why people loved all the intentionally-degraded filters when Instagram first came out), but I think it goes deeper than that. I also believe that it’s a strong argument for accepting that print (or vinyl) will never die: they exist alongside the digital as something to be appreciated in addition to the firehose of digital media. They’re not competing concepts.
      • Print magazines I enjoy: Little White Lies, Monocle, Another Escape, Sidetracked, Cereal, Makeshift, Toast, Four & Sons, Hot Rum Cow.
      • My workflow has changed massively. I still go to work at the same time (my schedule is influenced by having a baby daughter), but I now have so much variation in my day — so many different things I could be working on, or discussing, or organising at any given time. Oh, and I’ve recently embraced Sketch and fallen in love with it.
      • I’m very restless and have a very short attention span, so in order to stay sane I have to have lots of things on the go, and I have to change them up very regularly. One of my goals in going independent is to get ‘back to the coalface’ a bit more, whilst also recognising that I work best when I’m surrounding myself with people who do things better than me. So, for instance, I’m not designing the new Lagom website because I feel like I’m just too close to it — I’m working with an external designer to bring a fresh pair of eyes to the project.
      3 points