Magazine of the week: Zeit Magazin
The art direction and design of Germany’s Zeit Magazin, the weekly supplement to the daily Die Zeit newspaper, has long been a visual treat for visitors to Germany. Yet as editor Christoph Amend says in his letter introducing this new international edition, people have long told him they love they design but ‘I wish I could read it’. With the arrival of this quarterly english-language edition their wish has come true.
The weekly German edition is a flimsier, faster affair. By contrast the international edition gathers up the best of recent issues into a 260 page compendium. Art directed from Munich by Mirko Borsche, it’s best known for its double covers – contrasting images on the front cover and first page – and that is retained here, though the image of a model in NY sits slightly oddly with the headline about Berlin.
At the back of the issue you can see some of the double covers, including this lovely piece (above) about creativity by Christoph Niemann from 2102 (It was nothing. Or was it?)
Inside, there’s some great photography, strong writing and archive curiosities such as a set of unseen images of Iggy Pop in eighties Berlin. But as well such international-friendly stories, there's material such as an interview with German comedian Anke Engelke (above).
Infographics are fast becoming a cliché in all but the most careful hands, but another regular feature of the weekly is ‘A Map of Germany’, explaining curious facts about the country. David Hasselhoff's performance locations, US towns named after German cities… curious fun that set together make a great feature here (illustrations Joerg Block).
Photographer Brigitte Lacombe contributes a weekly piece about one of her photographs, and the compendium features a few of these including this record of the first meeting of Twiggy and Kate Moss.
As well as a long interview (99 Questions With…) with Werner Herzog, there’s also space for a series of page-sized expressions of colour from German artists (above and below). All in all it rather shames current British newspaper supplements in its ambition.
Distributed in major cities worldwide, the international edition of Zeit Magazin is a welcome addition to the newsstand and an interesting move from Germany’s large and rather insular publishing industry.