Issue one of Tinted Issue has recently made its mark at our London shop, exploring the binary between what we do and who we are. Founder Ida Yndal tells us more about her first publishing project.

Ida is based in Copenhagen, and describes herself as creative director of the 200+ page magazine; her background as a graphic designer sets her up for that role, but she also edited and oversaw every aspect of the first issue. ‘I was longing for something more meaningful, something I would actually care about,’ she says, ‘Starting my own magazine had always been a distant and slightly unrealistic dream of mine, but last year I finally had the capacity to explore it.’

What are you doing this Monday morning?
I don’t really have a routine—I try, but my mind is not wired that way. Some days I remember to eat breakfast, some days not. Most days I start off with a slow morning—I just function better that way. The slow pace lets me simply exist without urgency, watch some TikToks, and slowly get ready. There’s always something to tidy up in my flat too. When I was employed I often woke up ten minutes before I had to leave—a stark contrast to what I do now. Just that adjustment has made a noticeable difference to my wellbeing.

Today is also one of those slow-paced mornings. At midday, a friend of mine is coming to get some touch-ups on her tattoos, which I made. I started handpoke tattooing this summer (because I’ll do anything to not be employed again). After that, I’m probably going to hop onto my noble steed of steel and cycle to a café to work.

I don’t have an office, so I either work from home or go to a café to work. I have my regular haunts, where I have my favourite spots and usual order. I’ll have a chat with the baristas and get my daily social fix. What I like about working from cafés is that, most crucially, I don’t have to sort out food for myself, but also that I feel like I’m socialising while still sitting by myself. I also like that I can choose which environment fits my mood for the day, and that my friends can drop by for a chat.

On the weekends, the rest of the city is out, and that’s where I stay in. Even though I have a table and an office chair in my small two-bedroom apartment, I still find myself crumpled up in my armchair, with my laptop on my thigh while balancing my Wacom tablet on the armrest. Sounds uncomfortable, but it’s the best—for some reason, my body doesn’t understand I’m working by half sitting, half lying down, so I can sit for hours working intensely.

Which magazine do you first remember?
The first influential magazine I can remember was Vi Unge, a Danish teenage magazine that every girl seemed to have a subscription to in secondary school. It had celebrity gossip, outfit inspiration and reader letters—peak girlhood. This was before social media was really a thing, so this was one of the main sources of pop-culture inspiration and information. I had a fashion blog at the time and even got featured in the magazine once, which I was over the moon about.

As I got older, magazines like Elle and Vogue became more interesting to me, particularly the thicker issues filled with high-end fashion imagery in adverts. I was fascinated by the universes created through the photography and art direction, but also by the fact that a magazine was something tangible you could keep and revisit—unlike a website or a deleted tab, it wouldn’t simply disappear. Maybe that mild fear of losing things is also why as a child I collected almost every piece of printed matter I could get my hands on, almost hoarder-like. I like to own things instead of renting.

Aside from yours, what’s your favourite magazine/zine?
My favourite magazine must be MacGuffin – it ticks all the boxes for me. It’s visually stimulating without being chaotic. All the text is readable, and you never get confused about where to start, whether an article continues, or if it’s a new format is beginning. The concept behind each issue is also really interesting. I love how you can take one word, such as ‘Chains’, and turn it into a full publication, while giving every feature a different angle on such a narrow yet surprisingly broad concept. It’s one of the magazines I own that I’ve revisited the most.


What other piece of media would you recommend?
Maybe I’m boring, because I’m quite analogue and less-consumerist in that sense – most things I own are second hand. I don’t really use social media much—I get bored after a couple of scrolls on Instagram. I do love TikTok, though, but I mostly use it to shut my mind up when I need a break from everything else—I’m not addicted to it. I don’t have any streaming platforms because I’m on a tight budget, and I’ve decided I’m better off than binge-watching the newest Netflix series anyway.

What I’ve really reflected on recently is that now there’s no clear separation between work and free time, I cherish my time off a lot more and I mostly socialise during those hours. I try not to use or have the need for external platforms that profit from my engagement. Most apps just steal your time when you actually have other things to do, so I want to make sure I use them in a way that benefits me.

When it comes to creativity, I think it’s important to get external input and be inspired, but I think that comes to me in a natural way instead—it sort of finds me. I feel so inspired by what my friends are creating and the events we go to and so on.

A medium I might recommend would be bringing DVDs—again, I like to own things. It’s hard to get hold of the full ‘Doctor Who’ series online, so I purchased all the seasons when I was a teenager, and I still rewatch them every 2-3 years. In that way, I’m maximising my low-consumerism lifestyle, while also only watching a DVD when I actually want to, because it’s quite a bother compared to streaming. It forces me to be a bit more intentional with my time.

Describe Tinted Issue in three words.
Relatable, imperfect, and human.


The first issue is very impressive. Do you have previous experience of magazine publishing?
I have a background in graphic design, and for most of my career I’ve worked primarily with large-scale corporate reports. For many years, I enjoyed the challenge of creating concepts for annual reports, working within certain guidelines while still having the freedom to shape a new concept.

After seven years in that industry, I was starting to become bored with the design style, but also always being the doer of other people’s demands. I’ve never been particularly good with authority, so eventually the constant feeling of creating within someone else’s parameters started to wear me down. It became too predictable, and the target audience wasn’t other creatives, which was tremendously demotivating. I was longing for something more meaningful, something I would actually care about. Starting my own magazine had always been a distant and slightly unrealistic dream of mine, but last year I finally had the capacity to explore it.

I have no writing experience. The last time I wrote long pieces of text was back in secondary school, but I’ve always been a bit of a grammar nerd. Because of this lack of experience, I don’t like to call myself an editor, even though I am, I guess. I’m doing basically everything myself, so it’s hard to know if I’m doing things correctly, or if my writing or layout, for that matter, is any good.

At the moment, I’m much more into the editing and overall creative direction part of the project. I love researching who would be a good fit to feature, meeting new people, interviewing them, chatting and connecting, and then bringing their words together into a finished piece, making them feel seen and heard. That’s something you don’t get to experience as a regular graphic designer staring at a screen all day. I like the balance between human interaction and sitting at a ‘desk.’


There are many magazines about creativity and the act of making; what makes Tinted Issue stand out?
I wouldn’t necessarily call Tinted Issue a magazine about creativity, but rather a magazine for creatives. The stories and essays aren’t necessarily for inspiration, but for the reader to relate to another creative stranger who is also just figuring out life. I don’t care about your success story. I’ve heard plenty of zero-to-hero stories where everyone brushes it off with a ‘I just got lucky’ statement. I want to hear about your current struggles and doubts—simply a human experience. I can’t connect with you if you’re only showing me the polished facade.

For the concept, I asked myself about what we might be missing as a society right now. I kept hearing people talk about their screen time being too high, while also craving something relatable and tangible. That’s what made me want Tinted Issue to exist as a print magazine, but also led to the conversation cards and the community events around it.

I also decided not to use generative artificial intelligence in the making of the stories. This is a key principle of mine; I wouldn’t want to purchase a magazine a robot had produced and a human simply had proofread—I don’t want to contribute to that culture. This magazine is about human interaction and relating to one another – something a machine simply can’t and shouldn’t be a part of.

Highlight one story from the magazine that sums up your ambitions for the project.
I think the ‘Veins’ photo shoot is my favourite concept from issue one. My friend Vanessa came to me one day with this concept that had come to her in a dream. I instantly loved the vision and wanted to make it a reality. One of the things I like about being a Creative Director is that people pitch great concepts to me, and from there I can direct the concept and shape its intention within the spirit of the magazine. It’s beautiful to create something together that would never have existed if only one of us had made it.

The story delves into the layers of class and hierarchy behind the idea that status is determined by bloodline. A class reserved for those deemed worthy, simply by the colour of one’s blood. The myth of royal blood being blue can be linked to the fair skin of royalty, untouched by sun and labour, making the veins more visible beneath the surface. What was simply a physical trait became a marker of status. But in reality, blood is never blue, always red – coming from the same life source, connecting us to each other, yet somehow distancing us through ‘The Illusion of Hierarchy’, like the title of the issue.


What has publishing taught you that may be helpful to anybody else planning to make their own magazine?
I don’t know if I necessarily learned this in this process, but for me communication is crucial in any context. So even though I don’t know how to do some things, I know I’ll figure it out by doing—and because of that, I let everyone I worked with on the issue know that I’m new to this. I told them that they had to bear with me if I hadn't thought of y, x, and z. In that way, it takes so much pressure off me as the one in charge. I also feel people are more comfortable sharing their input with me that way, which is great. Specific roles are fine, but you won’t find the slightest hint of hierarchy when working with me.

Creating a magazine should be driven by pure passion, especially if you do everything yourself. The main challenge I feel by doing this is that I’m only one person doing all of it: concept, strategy, visual identity, conducting interviews, writing interviews, pitching, organising, social media, layout, website maintenance, and then all the administration that takes up hours for no reason. It’s a mouthful, and I’ve burned out plenty of times because I’ve been so overwhelmed by all the things to do, all labelled as priority number one.

I think what all of this has taught me is that managing social media is much harder than it seems, probably also because that’s the part I really do not care about. But it’s sadly half of the job for most businesses these days.

What are you most looking forward to this coming week?
This week is prep week, because on Saturday Tinted Issue is organising one of our events, this time a yoga and journaling event with an ambient live DJ. My friend Karolina is a yoga instructor and will be guiding the yoga session, and after that, we’re having a journaling session using Tinted Issue’s conversation cards.

These events are important to me, both as a way of promoting Tinted Issue and because they allow me to take the ideas behind the magazine and bring them into a physical space. I want Tinted Issue to exist beyond the pages of a magazine, creating opportunities for people to meet, talk, connect and spend time together away from their screens. There is something really valuable in creating a space where people can slow down and actually be present with each other, which is something I want to continue exploring through the platform.

tintedissue.com