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Advertising Director Suzanne C. Lewis Tel: (416) 203-9674, ext 221 suzanne@azureonline.com

Design Magazine

Toronto, Canada

460 Richmond St. West, Suite 601, ON M5V 1Y1

Email: azure@azureonline.com

Category: Architecture, Art, Design
Periodicity: 8 x / year
Language: English
Format: 241 x 330 mm
Circulation: 28,000
Web: http://www.azuremagazine.com

Founded in 1985

Azure is a magazine. Azure is also the colour of the sky, an afternoon sky of limitless possibilities. Azure covers design; Azure defines design. Design determines the forms we live and work in. It changes how we sit, write, read, learn, navigate and negotiate. It informs how we relate to the broader society and how we define beautiful and useful ways of living. Above all, it helps us envision a better, more sustainable and expressive future.
In its pages, Azure profiles international designers and architects, reports on major trade fairs in North America and Europe and investigates design issues related to our changing society. Presenting and exploring innovative projects, materials, products and ideas, Azure is an indispensable resource for architects, designers and the design-savvy public.

Exclusive Interview

Azure

What is your magazine about?
Azure is a magazine that covers architecture, design and art with an international focus. It presents interviews with the most influential and cutting-edge practitioners in those fields and reviews the latest and most noteworthy projects around the world.

Who’s behind the project? Tell us about the founders, their backgrounds and their motivations!
Azure was founded by Nelda Rodger (editor-in-chief) and Sergio Sgaramella (publisher), with the intent of providing something that was not available to design-lovers back in the mid-1980s: namely, a provocative and insightful magazine on architecture and design. They have steered the magazine from its humble roots to its current format, which incorporates edgy layout design with large-format, full-colour and information-rich imagery accompanied by some of the best magazine writing on architecture and design out there.

How do you produce one issue? How much time do you spend on it? How big is your team?
We plan issues well in advance, devising an editorial calendar each year that tries to envision all the major themes we wish to cover. That means that while we spend a month and a half in producing each issue, we've put in at least a few months prior to that in conceptualizing it. We have a team of about 15.

What have been the important steps in the life of your magazine?
The most important steps have been the redesigns - changes in format and layout designs - that we've introduced throughout the years. The last major redesign was on the occasion of our 20th anniversary, but we're always thinking of ways to make the magazine fresh and dynamic. Also, we've at times worked closely with other design institutions to create exhibits or sponsor lectures, and are proud of our collaborations with the Interior Design Show in Toronto and Design within Reach in New York, for instance.

Which are the key ingredients for the success of your magazine?
The design of the magazine itself is what makes it different from anything out there, and this appeals to our audience and our advertisers. And the articles we publish on projects are well-informed, dynamically written, and engaging.

What are the difficulties you are confronted with? What would be “the” thing to help the magazine to improve?
Like any other magazine, we are always seeking to expand our audience. And lately, we've reached out to new subscribers with promotions (we're currently thanking them for subscribing by sending them an objet d'art designed by Gaetano Pesce) and in expanding our web site with more up-to-date coverage and commentary.

Where do you want the magazine to be in five years?
We want the magazine to still be doing what it does best - covering the best design out there in the most effective and entertaining way.

Tell us about your audience! Who are the readers of your magazine?
Our average reader is in his or her late thirties, is a design professional, and has an annual personal income of more than $63,000. But we're also read by design students and design lovers of all stripes.

Is remaining independent important to you? Is it part of the strategy?
Yes! We take pride in being an independent magazine.

What’s your relationship with advertisement? Does it influence your content? Do you care about advertising-driven-editorials?
We believe in a church-state separation, but most our advertisers are the best manufacturers of furniture, lighting, etc., in the world, and we often cover their latest offerings in our show reports or in our product-driven features because they're the most innovative designs on the market and our audience relies on us to bring them the best. However, we have never run advertorials - our articles are objective and on the level.

What do you think of your issue 01, when you look back at it?
It's completely different from what the magazine has evolved to - it's another animal altogether.

Magazine favorite(s) that inspired you in your career.
My favourite magazine in the New Yorker, but the ones that have inspired me as an editor at Azure are Abitare, Form and DAMn. I also get my fix of design blogs, such as designboom and mocoloco.

Do you keep old copies of magazines? If so, what is your favorite in your collection?
Yes - I keep all of my Azures.

How many magazines do you buy / get / read each month? Do you qualify yourself a maniac?
We get a tonne of magazines each month and try to peruse them all. I wouldn't say we're maniacs; we need to be on top of things, so it comes with the territory.

We are compiling answers from some of the most innovative magazine makers around the world today. Who else should we ask?
The editors of DAMn.

Answered by Elizabeth Pagliacolo (Senior Associate Editor) Magazine: Azure magazine Email: elizabeth@azureonline.com Date: 23-01-2009