Diplo Magazine
Diplo Magazine
Cover
3 cover(s) available
view all
Subscriptions
Normally, £30 for 12 issues. £30 for 12 issues if you mention Colophon2007.
Advertising
Please contact the Publisher.
New Global Navigators
Independent current affairs and style magazine based in London.
London, UK
156-158 Gray's Inn Road, WC1X 8ED
Email: charlesb@diplo-magazine.co.uk
- Category: Art, Economy/Finance, Politic
- Periodicity: Monthly
- Language: English / French
- Format: 200 x 250 mm
- Circulation: 20,000
- Price: £ 4
Founded in 2004 - No longer published
Created in June 2004 by a group of political graduates from London and art graduates from Central St. Martin's.
Exclusive Interview
Magazines are unlike any other business: they hemorrhage money
What is your magazine about?
Diplo Magazine is a monthly, international, current affairs magazine based in London. The purpose of the magazine is sex up the subject and we do this by using original and provisional graphic design with cutting analysis of current affairs. All of the work is original and is published from our small studio in central London.
Who’s behind the project? Tell us about the founders, their backgrounds and their motivations!
The two principal people behind the magazine are Charles Baker and Alex Barrow. They are representative of the task of the magazine – bringing design and politics together. Charles is a graduates of politics from London and Alex is a graphic design graduate of Central St. Martin’s in London.
Charles Baker read Political Science at the University of Wales (Aberystwyth) and McGill University (Montreal). He graduated in 2001 and immediately began work as a Researcher at the House of Lords. Later in 2001, Charles moved to work as a press officer at the European Parliament in Brussels. In 2004, he returned to the UK and created Diplo Magazine. He is well respected amongst the publishing community and is often invited to write and speak about the industry.
A graduate of Central St. Martin’s (London) in Graphic Design, Alex immediately joined Diplo Magazine after completing his course. Prior to joining Diplo, Alex published his own magazine, Mulk, and studied for his foundation course at Reading College of Art & design. In addition, he has vast experience in animation and illustration, having furthered his study with a six-week course in Los Angeles. His work for Diplo Magazine has been published in other media, including the international design book, Design and Dissent.
How do you produce one issue? How much time do you spend on it? How big is your team?
In fact Issue One of Diplo began very quickly. We knew what we wanted to do and didn’t really stop to think how we would do it: we just did it. However, we were unlike all other launch issues that we knew of – we published just 70 issues of the first magazine. This kept costs to a minimum as well as allowing us to test the reaction of readers to this pioneering concept. It is important to remember that Diplo competes in a stale and very traditional current affairs market – compared to the more established titles such as The Economist and TIME, no reader in this market had ever seen anything like Diplo before.
What have been the important steps in the life of your magazine?
Magazines are unlike any other business: they hemorrhage money. Publishers therefore have to be very aware of this fact. Diplo survives today only for three reasons: we have been very brutal with our costs, we have had a lot of luck and we have excellent people behind the magazine. Every organization, no matter the size or the purpose, needs good people to make a good product and thus a good business.
What are the key ingredients for the success of your magazine?
People and luck.
What are the difficulties you are confronted with? What would be “the” thing to help the magazine to improve?
Diplo has achieved an awful lot with an incredibly small amount of money. We have grown, organically and sensibly, from that initial print run of just 70 copies to the point where you can now find Diplo on newsstands around the world. We now just need that extra little helping hand to make the magazine even bigger and better.
Where do you want the magazine to be in five years?
Today, Diplo is a monthly, international magazine. Tomorrow (in five years time), we want to be an international, weekly magazine.
Tell us about your audience! Who are the readers of your magazine?
Diplo is the young man’s Economist. Our readers are politically savvy and creatively switched on. They travel frequently and are a lucrative group of people. Having said that, as a pioneering magazine, we had to create our audience. We didn’t necessarily have an audience waiting for us. As a brand new concept, we had to create a brand new audience.
Is remaining independent important to you? Is it part of the strategy?
Naturally, we wish to retain our editorial independence, but we seen clear advantages in bringing the business expertise and wisdom of senior publishing people and industrialists. This will help us grow.
What’s your relationship with advertisement? Does it influence your content? Do you care about advertising-driven-editorials?
Answer:
Since we enjoy high copy sales, we require fewer advertisements. But this area is growing and we have developed excellent relationships with some worldwide brands.
Do you think that magazine readers still need to watch TV?
No. there is very clear evidence in the UK that the spend on consumer magazines is increasing year on year and television audiences are in decline.
What is your relationship with your printer? Does he play a main role in your development?
We are constantly searching for the most economical price and so change printers frequently. We printed the last issue in Lisbon, the current issue in Istanbul and the next issue in Slovakia. We have no loyalty to any one printer and would never ever print in the UK: they are over priced, unhelpful and a barrier to good publications.
Which magazines influence you most? What are you looking for in other magazines?
There is an independent magazine boom happening in London at the moment. I am influenced massively by their energy, enthusiasm ad determination.
What do you think of your issue 01, when you look back at it?
Awful.
What question did you never ask in your magazine but would have liked to?
Are you buying the magazine or are you buying the concept?
How many magazines do you buy / get / read each month? Do you qualify yourself as a maniac?
Nil.
E-mail interview from “12.12.2006”. © Colophon2007.com – Mike Koedinger Editions SA (Luxembourg)
- 2044
- 5180
- 2482
- 662
