Off to new shores: Grafikmagazin is here!

The print industry is suffering, Corona is raging – to start a magazine in these times takes a lot of courage and passion for the cause. Good thing the makers of Grafikmagazin have plenty of it!

With our affinity for graphic design, paper and printing, we've always been fans of novum. Now, Germany's oldest design magazine has been discontinued. All the more reason for us to be pleased that Editor-in-Chief Christine Moosmann and her team have not left it at that and have launched the brand-new Grafikmagazin. Phoenix Verlag, which was founded especially for Grafikmagazin, is a reference to the publishing house Phoenix Druck, which had brought novum to life in 1924, at that time under the title Gebrauchsgraphik.

Even the first issue makes it clear that some of novum's special features should also characterize Grafikmagazin. For example, the great value placed on paper, printing technology and finishing. The "Production & Publishing" section, for example, is dedicated to outstanding print projects and is printed on a different paper in each issue, in this case Lessebo Design (which, by the way, is one of the most environmentally friendly papers available, with CO2 emissions of 22 kg per ton).

As far as the typography of the magazine is concerned, the classic and at the same time fresh typeface ABC Favorit and the extremely variable Arizona by the Swiss typography agency Dinamo were chosen. In addition, a new typeface will be presented in the "Design & Research" section of each issue.

Also featured in this issue: Places à la Wes Andersen, queer photography, artist Camille Walala, Katapult magazine, and an interview with Jonas Wyssen, creator of the book "Followers of the Flow," which we at brandbook produced.

And from the outside: The cover design, which was realized in offset printing, is a poster motif that the Swiss letterpress printer Dafi Kühne developed exclusively for the launch of the magazine. Like Grafikmagazin itself, which combines fresh content with the classic format of a print publication, Kühne was also concerned with uniting the traditional with the contemporary. Thus, old webs and reglettes from letterpress printing form the word "new." The motif is overlaid by lettering drawn on a PC and implemented on the cover with a white relief varnish.

We find: Visually, in terms of content and haptically, a real experience. A successful start!