Justin Thomas Kay is creative director at the Fader now!
It’s always hard to point to music you’re currently into, but Fader magazine usually hits it on the nose for me..
I always admired the extremely paired back design of the uk esquire, it was so fundamentally different to the us version (an old favourite of mine). But it was boring, and it looks like injecting the title with a good dose of ‘lad culture’ that the brits are known for aint a bad thing. David McKendrick explains the UK Esquire redesign over at gym class magazine, and admits to paying a homage to the us GQ, but i mean the us GQ is the mens go to mass market magazine, so theres no shame in that.
This was taken by a friend in the girls bathroom at uni, probably the best compliment i’ve ever got!
Heads up to Rupert, looking forward to the new direction this year.
Creepy cover of James Franco by Uncle Terry, and you may notice old ‘Bookman’ in the corner, I think it’s coming up. If I drew a map of trending design elements, they would start off in boutique (foreign) design agencies where creativity x freedom are at their highest (you see the most flashy ‘coolest’ experimental design often in fashion zines and the like), and then it drips down to upperclass magazines, and other foreign design studios. Say if a trend starts off in Brazil or Latin America, you might see it popping up in spanish design studios, or french agencies. Once the trend gets a bit of momentum, it will start getting picked up on blogs like ffffound and tumblr diaries… and it’s out!
