Bruce Usher, designer & art director
Bruce Usher is a graphic designer and art director with a particular passion for print. Seeing as he's been behind two of the most intriguing new editorial projects we've seen in recent weeks - namely the redesign of the British Journal of Photography and the art direction of Rough Trade Magazine - we thought we'd catch up with Bruce to hear about the magazines that inspire him.
We asked Bruce to select three issues for us: an old one, a new one, and another magazine that particularly stands out.
A new issue: Man About Town
Although this really isn't so new (2012) it's a lot newer than my old issues so I hope this counts. This was my favourite of the Man About Town magazines art directed by M/M Paris and has so many beautiful details which balance simple reading copy, set all in one size, with an amazing display font made of chillies and pens – it still feels very, very 'now'. The postcard set stuck to the cover reminds me of the free stuff I used to love so much in magazines I got when I was young.
An old issue: Creative Camera
I was lucky to pick up a huge stack of Creative Camera magazines from the photography book market stall on Broadway Market whilst the stall-keeper was cleaning out his personal collection. They span 4 decades (from the 60s to the 90s) and the content is amazing throughout all of them. I feel very fortunate to have a collection of these to look through. The layout in each of them is totally inspiring too, I think designing anything like this would be impossible now, they seem so haphazard and incidental but perfect at the same time.
And another thing… Werk
I was introduced to Werk magazine through this issue (No.21) by Dave & Marina at The Gourmand. I don't remember feeling so intrigued or excited by a piece of print, and not in a nerdy graphic design way either. This exhibits all of the reasons why print is important to people who still want to engage with something tactile.
Each of the die-cut, painted-edged pages is filled with sketches by Martine Bedin, a member of the Memphis-Milano Group, with the whole interview set on the cover. I don't really need to describe how unbelievable this is – you can see the pictures.