Magazine of the week: Offscreen

Oh sweet irony – it’s a printed magazine about web development and design. The cleverly titled Offscreen unashamedly meets the irony head on, editor Kai Brach explaining in his introduction to the issue that the magazine is the result of his desire to have a more ‘palpable interation with content’. He describes his fellow digital specialists as having lost touch with the human side of digital. What better way to get back in touch with that than print?

The following 116 pages combine interviews, questionaires and insight to make a magazine that opens up its singular subject in the way only smaller independent magazines seem capable of. Kai is deeply involved in this international community of web folk. He knows about it, loves it, and that shines through every page. Whether it’s one of the several ‘Studio Culture’–like photo stories about the working environment within major agencies (above), the more tangential set of views from agency windows (below) or the written profiles of leading figures from the industry, his passion for the subject is evident.

It does get techy at points but largely the focus is on the people and their day-to-day lives. It’s a subject that can be drawn together from various blogs and social networks but as far as I’m aware hasn’t been examined in more concrete form. Who are these people? What are their influences?

Offscreen has a simple, clean design aesthetic that suits its subject matter, has a familiar uncoated paper stock that soaks in the ink to add to the sensual experience of reading, and is altogether a very welcome addition to the independent scene.

Kai has a detailed post about the making of Offscreen here that is recommended to anyone thinking of starting a magazine.

We now have copies available in our shop.