graphic design, art, typography and architecture

Ground breaking, irreverent, boundary-ignorant, esoteric, new wave, alien, an historical milestone,… all terms used to describe the Graphic Design Magazine Emigre. First published in 1984, it was one of the first publications to use the new(!) Macintosh computer.

At the time of its publication, many Graphic Designers and commentators were quite scathing in their attacks. The Design writer and critic Steven Heller was one of those critics, confidently predicting–In his 1993 Cult of the Ugly–that Emigre would be nothing more than a “blip in the continuum.” Emigre continued to be published for another 12 years.

I had pretty much forgotten about it until today. My regular Café is owned by a local Graphic Designer, and its bookshelves are full-to-bursting with Design Books and Magazines, spanning a couple of decades at least. I sat back in my chair and was jabbed in the ribs by an oversized magazine–it was none other than Emigre; and what a pleasant surprise it was. It was an Issue from 1989–hard to believe, almost 20 years old!

Anyway, it didn’t feel in the least bit dated, and was still a great source of inspiration–some great typography and layout.

Interestingly, Emigre.com has plans to put republish all the magazine content on-line–once they’ve sold the remaining back issues.

The focus of Emigre is on the unique perspective of contemporary poets, writers, journalists, graphic designers, photographers, architects, and artists who live or have lived outside their native countries. Their influence on culture is diverse and significant: they import it and export it; they offer new interpretations, comparisons, ideas, and a certain universal wisdom acquired through juggling conflicting values and lifestyles.
–from the first issue of Emigre, 1984.

Emigre was Directed by Rudy VanderLans with many of the typefaces designed by his typographer-wife, Zuzana Licko.

In 2004 Steven Heller interviewed VanderLans for AIGA. It provides some nice insights into the character of the man. In response to Heller’s question,

“Do you in anyway feel that the blogs are making Emigre obsolete?”,

VanderLans says,

“I think blogs are making a lot of design magazines obsolete. And everything must come to an end, I guess.”

–less than a year before Emigre ceased publication in 2005. I’m not suggesting that Design blogs were responsible for Emigre’s demise, but it has become increasingly difficult to publish (for print) magazines that do not run with the mainstream. Emigre’s greatest strength was also its greatest weakness: it was never intended for “mass consumption”; VandeLans was not in the least interested in appealing to the widest possible audience. These days, blogs are in a stronger position (owing to reach and nominal cost of “publication”), to publish non-mainstream content; there appears to be no place left for like-spirited for-print magazines.

Though I eagerly anticipate reading back issues of Emigre on-line, something–often times a great deal–is lost in the translation from print to Web; for example, the old format magazine was huge, and just seemed perfect for the content; much of that and more cannot be replicated on my 1024*768 monitor.

The two page-spreads above use one of my favourite Emigre Foundry fonts, Template Gothic, designed by Barry Deck, and which Eye Magazine founder Rick Poynor called the typeface of the 90s.

In another interview with HOW Design:

HOW: I recall reading that your first issue had no typesetting budget, so the text was basically typewriter type resized on a photocopier. How, initially, did you afford to publish Emigre? What production tricks did you have up your sleeve for keeping the publication’s costs manageable in the earlier years?

VanderLans: We paid for it simply by emptying our bank accounts. The few ads we sold barely covered the cost of sending out the promo kits to get advertisers. The first issues were published before the Macintosh was out, so typesetting was done as you describe it, and I spent a lot of time at the local Xerox copy place either enlarging or reducing typewriter copy. For Emigre #3, in order to save money, Zuzana and I rolled up our sleeves and saddle-stitched 3,000 copies by hand. For issue #4, I did all the prepress work myself; shooting halftones on a stat camera, stripping, burning offset plates, etc. We have also relied heavily, and still do, on the kindness and goodness of the many people who have contributed their time and talents to Emigre for no or little pay. It was never easy or glamorous. It was a lot of really hard work, and it was worth it.

A brilliant insight into Emigre’s early days, and the dedication behind a Magazine that ran for two decades.

I plan to introduce some of the Fonts from the Emigre Foundry through the I Love Typography blog, so keep your RSS Readers ready and your eyes peeled.

Does anyone out there remember Emigre Magazine? Something tells me that Marc Rapp will remember.

I will contact the present copyright holders and inquire about reproducing more of the content in a regular Emigre feature. Are there other titles you reminisce about; now defunct journals or magazines, that you remember fondly or otherwise from the distant past?