Magazine of the Week

This week’s magazine is all about graphic design.

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Cover of issue 58, spring 2001

Emigre was a magazine concerned with issues related to print design, graphic design, and typography. It was begun in 1984 by art director Rudy VanderLans and his wife, type designer Zuzana Licko. They published this in San Francisco, where they also ran Emigre Foundry, a digital typeface “foundry”*. It was particularly notable because all the design and layout was accomplished on the new Macintosh computers. Because of the new technology, Licko’s typefaces were able to play on the bitmap design and the foibles of dot matrix printing, as opposed to those of older cast-metal typefaces.

Although the magazine began its run with a focus on emigres, printing travel accounts and discussions of international culture, its design roots eventually shaped it into an influential graphic design title, especially with publishers and artists working in the new desktop publishing industry. By 1988, the title shifted to primarily consider issues of design and highlight new designers, artists, art directors, and publications.

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Above are two pages from the typeface catalog in its tabloid-format days.

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A page from the Spring 2001 issue, no. 58

Not surprisingly, the magazine changed physical formats several times over its publication. It began as a tabloid format, which includes the early issues in our collection, then was redesigned into a standard-sized (11″ h x 8.5″ w) magazine. Eventually the directors put out several CDs as well and worked with publisher Princeton Architectural Press to produce it as small softcover books. The title ceased in 2005, with issue 69. The FIT Library has issues ranging from 1996-2002 with some gaps.

Emigre Fonts

*note that there was no actual metal casting or metal type made

Come take a look!

Comments

One response to “Magazine of the Week”

  1. Susan Avatar

    What a great article I found a very interesting information, Congratulations !!