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good design magazines?

G

gonnabuyamac

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 26, 2006
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i'm getting tired of my macworld subscription (most of what's in the magazine is old news by the time i get it).

but, i thought it would be cool to get a magazine that pertains to the field i'd like to get into: graphic design for web & print.

i primarily use adobe software (photoshop, illustrator, and dreamweaver).

does anyone know of good magazines that give good tips/how to's plus whatever else would be relevant to the design industry?
 
are you talking about magazines about software usage/technology or about design itself? knowing software is not indicative of knowing design at all.

i think software magazines are useless crap, so as far as design magazines go i try to read regularly

Print
Baseline
Communication Arts
STEP
Eye
Graphis
Metropolis
ReadyMade
Dwell
Real Simple

and you should avoid HOW and CMYK like the plague.
 
Although it is a rather expensive magazine to subscribe in US (well over $100) I am a big fan of Computer Arts magazine ( http://www.computerarts.co.uk/ ) They have a lot of step by step exercises in all the programs you just mentioned. I am a fan of magazines that do samples precisely step by step, I am not a fan of reading bunch of crap about theory.
 
blitzkrieg79 said:
Although it is a rather expensive magazine to subscribe in US (well over $100) I am a big fan of Computer Arts magazine ( http://www.computerarts.co.uk/ ) They have a lot of step by step exercises in all the programs you just mentioned. I am a fan of magazines that do samples precisely step by step, I am not a fan of reading bunch of crap about theory.
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Computer Arts is a very good magazine in the UK. I believe you can find it in the US in boarders.
 
How now?

Agreed, and ditto, etc. for the most part.

Why the level/degree of hating on HOW?

Not my favorite, nothing to write home about, but for a novice...? Just curious, not looking to start World War 3 here, I'm just asking why you feel so strongly about HOW.;)
 
gonnabuyamac said:
i'm getting tired of my macworld subscription (most of what's in the magazine is old news by the time i get it).

but, i thought it would be cool to get a magazine that pertains to the field i'd like to get into: graphic design for web & print.

i primarily use adobe software (photoshop, illustrator, and dreamweaver).

does anyone know of good magazines that give good tips/how to's plus whatever else would be relevant to the design industry?
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found newspaper news some stuff about them
 
c3str said:
Why the level/degree of hating on HOW?
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because HOW is not a design magazine, its a magazine about the business of design, and as an overview of the landscape of being a professional designer from a pragmatic perspective i can live with it.

the problem i have with it is that people look at the work in it as examples of good design, of which there are usually none. in general i find the magazine as a whole to be extremely lowbrow and pedestrian when it comes to actual good design.

so since the OP was asking about "design" magazines, as opposed to magazines about being a designer, i put my original comment. :)
 
Computer Arts magazine (I believe that's what it's called) offers great tutorials, inspirations reviews and articles on the latest art and such. I used to buy it quite often however I've dropped out of the Illustrator loop to focus more on film.
 
gonnabuyamac said:
does anyone know of good magazines that give good tips/how to's plus whatever else would be relevant to the design industry?
Click to expand...

A book can only teach you how to do something in a program it can 't teach you how to be a designer.

Save the money you would put on magazines and do a course instead, you would learn a lot more that way.

Example: I can look at as many books/magazines as I like on how to bricklay (I'm not good at it) and know all the theory behind it but when it comes to actually doing it is a completely different thing without someone showing me the ropes (I made a complete mess making a wall, getting more cement on the floor than on the bricks :)) After I was shown the basics it was a lot easier to do.
 
I get Computer Arts magazine when I can, it is pretty expensive. I got hooked when I bought my first own copy, purely because of its cool cover :rolleyes:
 
I went to the store today in search of Computer Arts. Borders did NOT have it, sadly. They did have Print, HOW, Communication Arts, STEP, and CMYK. I'd have to say, out of them all, CMYK did not appeal to me at all! HOW seemed ok. STEP didn't look bad, but I wasn't too thrilled with it. Communication Arts was pretty cool. Print looked like a real nice magazine also, but at $19.50 USD a copy, I'll pass! $37 a year for 6 issues is not as bad, but it's still a lot of money! I wish I could have checked out Computer Arts. :eek:
 
If you only use Adobe stuff, Layers is great. They often feel like a big commercial for Adobe, but you can learn a TON for free on their website, and the magazine is great too. They used to be called Mac Design Magazine.

http://www.layersmagazine.com/
 
Emigre.

It'll cost you a proper penny to acquire all of them, but the level of critique in Emigre makes something like Baseline look like a comic in comparison.
 
The only design magazine I subscribe to is Communication Arts. I've had it for a few years now.
 
If you're looking for decent graphic design magazines, then you should be looking to these few suggestions really, not a magazine full of tutorials on how to make an eye with rainbow colours or some other rubbish - plenty of those out there already. :p

You should get much more inspiration and original creative ideas from these, than following tutorials.

(This is based off UK experience, not sure about over the pond if that's where you're from.)

- Creative Review: The daddy of creative design and critiques in the past. Has lost some of its luster I feel, but comes up with good articles now and then. It's annual is still worth getting each year, and their quaterly DVD's were great too.
- Graffik
- Design Week
- Eye Magazine
- iD
- Print
 
MagicWok said:
Creative Review: The daddy of creative design and critiques in the past. Has lost some of its luster I feel, but comes up with good articles now and then. It's annual is still worth getting each year, and their quaterly DVD's were great too.
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I looked at CR last month, and it was about half the thickness. :eek:
 
Ok I use to get Comm Arts but I am bit behind on my design reading so did not renew. My question is this magazine I get the annuals. Can I just get none themed magazines just straight forward articles?


Also what do you guys do with your old magazines throw them away, keep them and store it away or tear out good articles?


Thanks
 
iGav said:
I looked at CR last month, and it was about half the thickness. :eek:
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Yup. CR seems to have been on the downhill for about a year and a half now. With occasional rare editorials that are worth reading. I don't pay for the subscription anymore - I've got work to pay one for me lol.
 
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