Boris Kochan, event curator and designer
To coincide with Munich’s QVED 2016 editorial design conference, currently taking place, we’re taking a look through the magazine rack of the event’s curator and host Boris Kochan.
Boris is also partner of communication agency Kochan and Partner, and has always had a heartfelt love for magazines as he passionately emphasised in an email: “Somewhere between Letraset and Fixogum, between baryt copies and rapidographs, I developed the deeply-rooted belief that magazine making is more than just a longing, it is an obsession. Where else are idea & concept, text & design, technology, distribution and interaction engaged in anything even closely resembling such an intensive (inter)play? Good magazines are complex life plans, prototypes for tomorrow…”
We asked Boris to pick three magazines in the run up to QVED: an old issue, a new issue and a detail he admires.
Old issue: Baseline
For me, Hans Dieter Reichert’s Baseline, together with HQ by Rolf Müller, a magazine developed for the German company Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, is the best example of timelessness coupled with inspiration.
They are quite simply outstanding publications based on exceptional concepts executed on an astonishingly high level – these printed works were far ahead of their times with regards to content, design and technology. Please note that Baseline is around to this day, thanks to the extraordinary commitment of its publishers. And this is why it is particularly exciting to trace its beginnings and to take a look at the entire series – which is actually possible in the exhibition “Baseline”, currently on display (above) in Munich during QVED.
Magazines on design exist in a unique field of diametrically opposite parameters – on the one hand, they are to provide a (rather self-effacing) backdrop for the outstanding design of others. At the same time, they are to offer an exciting layout in their own right – how else can they be sold? In this respect designing the arrangement of various contents and documenting details that might otherwise be overlooked plays an important role. Issue 29 from 1999 is a case in point – a perfect illustration of how the whole is more than a sum of its parts.
New issue: MO:DE
For this year’s QVED, we selected a special highlight to be presented at the close of the three-day event: together with three professionals, students developed a monothematic magazine. This resulted in the sixth edition of MO:DE, the teaching magazine of Munich’s School of journalism, fashion and design, AMD. A magazine somewhat resembling a book – a comprehensive work, testament to sensitivity, generosity and diversity.
And it covers a single topic from cover to cover: Charles – a Munich-based bartender, whose family name Schumann’s made it into a museum in form of a logo. Charles invented a new form of bar and whiskey books and he worked repeatedly as fashion model for big brands such as Baldessarini. Charles said, “I believe that there is nothing to say about good suits, they are quite simply a must – I live in them.” With regards to courage and stamina, this magazine should serve as a role model for professional magazine makers and designers.
And one other thing: Kösel Lamello
When line determines content – this phenomenon is perfectly described with a German term best translated as “profound digging”. The Typographic Society Munich, following the title of its new series of 10 lectures “Landscapes of Flush Alignment – on the new Passion of Leading” created a truly innovative experience of unfolding. The content is revealed in a rolling sequence (below) – a careful yet direct approach to questions about leadership and more. As simple as it is complex; as new as it is self-evident.
QVED2016 takes place in Munich this weekend, 25—27 February. Jeremy Leslie is a co-curator of the event, and magCulture a supporting partner.