MAGCULTURE.COM / BLOG

Christmas #7: Qompendium

Here’s a special magazine, a publication thoroughly relishing its print identity. It may not look that stunning in the phopto above, but tilt it in the light…

OK, so a little coloured foil blocking is not the revelation it once was, but it is symbolic of the love with which Qompendium has been created.

The important thing about this new magazine project from Germany-based Kimberley Lloyd (the woman behind M-Publication) is its physical nature. I’ve talked before of magaziney-ness, and this is a perfect example of making the most of being a concrete object. The feel of this publication is as important as its look and content. It is impossible to communicate the tangible nature of that feel here on a website, but I promise you this small-format (170 x 240mm) 300+page magazine is simply a lovely object to touch and hold. For example, it mixes a rough grey board cover with foil block.

Another example – the different paper stocks, including a pink stock, above and below, printed in single colour cyan for the text section.

There’s the rough brown paper section dividers, below…

…the clean white photographic section…

…and a beautiful commercial section featuring specially created branded ads, again on rough brown stock but this time featuring clever graphic use of basic product shots.

The design is not the star here, but is well in tune with the magazine’s content and physical appearance. It looks modern and makes the right references.

And the content? As its name (which looks good on the cover but is less attractive when written here) suggests Qompendium is a magazine for people wishing to be surprised. Its references are broad and deep, ranging from a look through the NASA photo archives to the above mentioned product pages via lengthy interviews with veteran photographer Douglas Kirkland and sci-fi writer Nick Sagan. Fashion photography mixes with archive material, and there are sometimes too many layers of complexity applied in an attempt to control disparate content. Qompendium is the result of one very particular person’s vision, and it mixes the pros and cons of such an uninhibited approach. The magazine is not perfect, but the world of publishing is richer for its presence.