An interesting peek at one designer’s magazine shelf makes us ponder timing in the grand scheme of things.
“Last year, a friend turned me on to Nest, an interior design magazine publishers from the late 90s to the early 00s. The bold design, unusual production details, and hilarious content make for a fabulous inspiration.”
Elana Schlenker, graphic designer and founder of Gratuitous Type, offered this as one of her three picks when asked by MagCulture’s Madeleine Morley for a peak at some favorite magazines on her shelf.
No doubt the magazine was a far cry from the mass market mentality that saturated the newsstands at that time.
“During its run, Nest showed the room of a 40-year-old diaper lover, the lair of an Indonesian bird that decorates with coloured stones and vomit, the final resting place of Napoleon’s penis, the quarters of Navy seamen, a barbed-wire-trimmed bed that doubled as a tank, and a Gothic Christmas card from filmmaker John Waters,” Morley writes, citing Wikipedia as her source.
That was then. This is now, as Schlenker shows off her copy of Buffalo Zine No.3, which she says she’s “loved from the start,” self-billed as a “radical and subversive trip through the joy of magazines.”
“It’s a large format hard cover in the spirit of Self Service, with whimsical, storybook influences, expressive type, and a healthy dose of cat content. It’s funny, fearless, stylish, and surprising – a real antidote to the minimal aesthetic that has permeated so much of contemporary independent magazine design in the last few years,” explains Morley.
We can’t help but wonder if Nest was just too far ahead of its time. As the industry moves away from mass market mentality and embraces the niche title, perhaps it would have found a better foothold in the new millennia.