Print, Joy and the Offline Experience

printbooks“No doubt that the internet is the best way to find information about when to plant carrots or how to build your own chair, but it’s the offline experience of actually doing it that brings you joy.”    

Thanks to the Rising Stars initiative sponsored by FIPP, the magazine industry is hearing from some young and talented people who have a fresh perspective to magazine publishing.

One of these rising stars is First Purple Publishing’s Tine Presterud of Denmark, who shares some insights into how her generation approaches the magazine industry.

“What excites me the most about working in the magazine media industry right now is actually the uncertainty of it – the fact that the media is being disrupted from unexpected places forces us to be on our toes,” Presterud says in an interview with FIPP. “I realise, that for the majority of the industry, and especially for the people who have been here for many years, this is cause for great frustration, but being new to the business I find it a very exciting time to enter at this stage, at what seems to be such a crucial moment. It feels like anything can happen, and I find that openness very inspiring.

“At First Purple we have started referring to it, as the experience of being offline – the feeling of being present and attentive, instead of having 20 tabs open at once,” Presterud continues.

She notes that the very idea of magazine has evolved in this digital age, and while magazines find new popularity among the younger generation, they aren’t returning to a traditional format but rather embracing something entirely new.

“I don’t consider this a return to something, which was before the internet, but rather a post-internet tendency addressing the same need, that makes urban gardening and DIY trend: No doubt that the internet is the best way to find information about when to plant carrots or how to build your own chair, but it’s the offline experience of actually doing it that brings you joy,” she says.

Presterud believes the ability of print magazines to create those live experiences is critical to the industry’s continued evolution.

“We haven’t stopped going to concerts because we can stream music for free – on the contrary – and we won’t stop reading great stories and enjoying graphic design; we just want it presented to us in a way which satisfies our need for experience.”

It’s awesome to hear a digital native like Presterud inspired by the experience of print magazines in such a clear and straightforward way. Expect good things from this one.