The Modern Magazine 2017
It’s with great pleasure that we can announce our annual editorial conference, The Modern Magazine will be returning this autumn for another jam-packed day of talks from designers, editors and publishers.
As ever, ModMag will feature an international lineup of some of the most exciting figures in current magazine publishing, from founders of emerging independent titles to senior figures from established magazines. All will provide their own unique insight into today’s magazines and the challenges they face.
With 2017 marking the fifth edition of the conference, we’ll be celebrating by welcoming back some of our favourite speakers from past years too, to discuss how things have changed since we last heard from them (details below).
We’re also moving to a beautiful new venue to accommodate more people following the over-subscribed waitlist for tickets last year. The move also means we can keep tickets prices at the same rate as last year. Conway Hall is a unique, wood-panelled central London venue designed in 1929 by Frederick Mansford, and will be an ideal new home for ModMag.
The line-up for The Modern Magazine 2017:
Anja Aronowsky Cronberg — Editor-in-chief/founder, Vestoj (France)
Nicholas Blechman — Creative director, The New Yorker (US)
Mirko Borsche — Bureau Mirko Borsche (Germany)
Tony Brook — Co-founder, Unit Editions (UK)
Francesco Franchi — Managing Editor, la Repubblica (Italy)
Lydia Garnett — Co-editor-in-chief, Accent (UK)
James Hyman — The Hyman Archive (UK)
Takahiro Kinoshita — Editor-in-chief, Popeye (Japan)
Owen Pritchard — Editor, It’s Nice That (UK)
Justinien Tribillon & Isabel Seiffert — Migrant Journal (France, Switzerland)
Liv Siddall — Editor, Rough Trade Magazine (UK)
Look out for interviews with these speakers on the Journal in the run up to the day. The running order will be published online a few days before the day itself.
There will also be a panel discussion chaired by Jeremy Leslie, looking back at what’s happened in magazines over the last five years and forward to the next five. Discussion line-up:
Bertie Brandes & Charlotte Roberts – founders, Mushpit
Danielle Pender — Editor-in-chief, Riposte
John L Walters – Editor/owner, Eye
Matt Phare – Creative director, Shortlist and Stylist
Paul Gorman – Author, The Story of The Face
(Richard Turley in unable to join us due to work commitments)
The Modern Magazine 2017
Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
Thursday 2 November
9am to 5.30pm
Tickets include coffee and tea throughout the day and a lunch bag. The magCulture Shop will be on site, along with representatives from our partners and supporters.
Our hotel partner citizenM is offering a friends rate to all attendees.
Group booking discounts are available. Please email stephanie@magculture.com for further information.
The special publication about ModMag16 has now been emailed out to all speakers, attendees and sponsors.
Thank you to our partners:
And our supporters:
Our speakers for ModMag17:
Anja Aronowsky Cronberg — Vestoj
Anja studied Fine Art and History of Design before founding Vestoj, in 2009, as a platform for critical thinking in fashion. She lives in Paris, where she creates the annual Vestoj Journal, Vestoj Online and the Vestoj Salons under the patronage of the London College of Fashion, where she also works as a Senior Research Fellow in Fashion Theory and Practice.
Nicholas Blechman — The New Yorker
Nicholas is a New York-based art director, illustrator, and designer. He is creative director at The New Yorker, and since 1990 has published, edited, and designed the political underground magazine Nozine. His illustrations have appeared in GQ, Travel + Leisure, Wired, and The New York Times.
Mirko Borsche — Bureau Mirko Borsche
After a stint in advertising, Mirko made his name working on Jetzt magazine, a spin off from German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung aimed at young people. In 2007 he launched his own design studio in Munich, working for multiple clients in branding and editorial. Best known for his work on ZEITmagazin, he has also art directed Spike, Super Paper, Sleek and Kaleidoscope.
Tony Brook — Unit Editions
Tony runs the multi-disciplinary design studio Spin with his partner Patricia Finegan, and in 2009 set up book imprint Unit Editions with designer, author, and fellow AGI member Adrian Shaughnessy. This year Spin launched their print journal Adventures in Typography, and Unit Editions published ‘Impact,’ a double-volume overview of design magazine front covers, and have an upcoming monograph about legendary eighties design magazine Octavo.
Francesco Franchi — Il Repubblica
Francesco made his name working at IL Magazine, the monthly magazine supplement to the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore. That magazine won multiple design awards for its typography and extraordinary use of infographics, based on his theories of news management and story telling. Earlier this year he moved to Rome to be managing editor at Il Repubblica, where the first sign of his involvment is the exciting new broadsheet section Robinson.
Lydia Garnett — Accent
Lydia is one of the founders of Accent, a biannual photography and lifestyle magazine dedicated to extraordinary people from around the world. Lydia and co-editor Lucy Nurnberg began Accent out of a love of portraiture, storytelling and eccentrics. The magazine profiles people who are inspiring, unique and radically subversive in their everyday lives. Lydia works as a photographer and a lecturer in magazines and journalism in London.
Takahiro Kinoshita — Popeye
Takahiro has worked for many Japanese men’s magazines, but it was his move to Popeye in 2012 that brought him to the attention of the wider world. First launched in 1976, the magazine was fading from its heyday until he breathed new life into it by returning it to its ‘City Boy’ roots. Aimed at men in their twenties, it acts as a guide to growing up, with each issue themed to very specific areas such as sandwiches, cinema or an individual city. Popeye is one of a few Japanese magazines able to transcend its local context and be of interest globally.
Owen Pritchard — It’s Nice That/Printed Pages
Owen is editor of It’s Nice That, responsible for their website and its million monthly visitors as well as the biannual magazine Printed Pages, monthly Nicer Tuesday events and annual Here conference. He has previously held editorial roles at Blueprint, Icon and the Architects’ Journal.
Liv Siddall — Rough Trade magazine
Regular ModMag attendees will know Liv as our host on the day; but her love for magazines extends to working full-time as editor at Rough Trade. As well as editing the monthly Rough Trade Magazine she hosts their podcast and radio shows. She is also a contributing editor of Riposte, writes for numerous independent publications, and regularly gives talks about magazine publishing.
Isabel Seiffert — Migrant Journal
Isabel is Co-editor and Art Director of Migrant Journal as well as one half of Offshore Studio, the Zurich-based design practice she founded with Christoph Miler. Their projects have a strong focus on editorial design, typography and storytelling. She will be talking alongside Migrant Journal’s editor Justinien Tribillion.
Justinien Tribillion — Migrant Journal
Justinien is editor of Migrant Journal, a six-issue independent publication looking at migration in all its forms. He is also a PhD student at University College London, a contributor to The Guardian and teaches urban studies in Paris. He will be talking alongside Migrant Journal’s art director Isabel Seiffert.
All speakers are confirmed but we reserve the right to change the lineup for reasons beyond our control. Tickets cannot be refunded.