Last Magazine: Magazines in Transition

Presented here in this visual anthology are the current boutique periodicals so cutting-edge, they will continue to flourish in print even as their mainstream contemporaries move to digital. Selected from more than 20 countries are preeminent covers and layouts from over 150 independent magazines that advance the medium through their presentation (Gum, Kilimanjaro), content (Re, Richardson), design (Uovo, Werk), and tailoring to a niche market (Fantastic Man, Me). Featuring essays from top industry thinkers such as Steven Heller (New York Times Book Review), Terry Jones (ID), and Robert Sacks (High Times, Time Inc.), this will be the sourcebook for magazine aficionados and professionals. The Last Magazine is published in association with the traveling exhibition, Magazines in Transition, which opens in New York in September, 2006 and travels to museums and galleries in ten cities worldwide including Barcelona, Paris, Luxembourg, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Michael Dashkin - Library Journal

"Within 25 years, only 10 percent of the paper-based magazine industry will remain"â this is one of several statistics author Renard (founder, MU Inc/Netcirculation) marshals to portray the upheaval in magazine publishing in this title accompanied by the traveling exhibition "Magazines in Transition." Renard attributes the decline in print circulation in part to readers' desire to access up-to-the-minute interactive media and in part to inefficiencies in the periodical distribution system that have made old business models untenable. Through smart essays by industry figures (e.g., Steven Heller, Bob Sacks, Nick Hampshire), he projects a future in which periodicals will be divided into two distinct types: mass-market titles available only in electronic form, which are interactive and continuously updated; and the "stylepress," periodicals offering a "tactile" experience to a niche audience of trendsetters, defying publishing conventions, and valuing forward design over traditional strategies. Graphic designers will appreciate the many full-page color illustrations of stylepress covers and interiors, while industry insiders will be interested in this contribution to a topic with which they have no doubt been grappling for some time.

Born in France, but currently residing in New York, David Renard created Stare, a publishing and advertising agency that produced Stare and Critic Eye. He then established MU Inc., the largest nationwide distribution network for high-end boutique fashion, art, photography and design periodicals. Designed by Vince Frost, named by ID as one of the hottest new art directors for Nan Goldin: A Devil's Playground.