Grrr
A magazine dedicated to graphic design
Barcelona, Spain
Avda. Republica Argentina 74, pral, 08023
Email: jaume@baued.es
- Category: Graphic Design
- Periodicity: Bi-Annual
- Language: Spanish / English
- Format: 165 x 235 mm
- Price: 8 €
- Web: http://www.grrr.ws
Founded in 1994
Exclusive Interview
Grrraphic Design!
What is your magazine about?
Well we like graphic design, so it's about graphic design, but we think that we are different from another magazines about graphic design. For exemple, believe it or not (you only have to buy a copy) we print the magazine only in one color The reason?, well, we believe more in ideas that in form, decoration, color and this kind of things. We like to talk and write about graphic design and we think that you have to look at graphic design in his natural habitat: a stamp on an envelope, a poster on the street, a package on a shelve and so on...
Whos behind the project? Tell us about the founders, their backgrounds and their motivations!
We are a open collective; between us are graphic designers working for himself, graphic designers working in studios, professors, students who just finish his studies, people who are enough crazy about graphic design to work for nothing in this project.
The collective is formed in this moments for about 15 persons, but sometimes someone gets into, or someone decide to get out, or maybe return after 2 or 3 years out of the group. We are, over anything, friends interested in graphic design.
How do you produce one issue? How much time do you spend on it? How big is your team?
Well, as collective, we decide the contents between all of us; everyone can propose something and the rest decided if is good for the magazine or not.
For the design, each one (sometimes a group of two o three, never more) of us design a number. Everyone can design like he/she wants, the only condition is the mesure of the magazine and the use of 1 color... so we have a pretty collections of numbers very different in design but still a collection of magazines.
We intent to edit twice a year, so each number is a work of about 6 months, but sometimes we spend 1 or two years to get the work finished.
What have been the important steps in the life of your magazine?
We began in 1994 and edited five numbers (including a number 0) on a big format: 248 X 330 mm, and 32 pages without cover; we spent on it 6 years.
In the year 2000, we try to be more into the project and decided to publish twice a year in a new format and more pages 164 X 232 mm, 96 pages more cover. We can carry the magazine published twice a year during 3 years.
We also do other activities, like a free school on Saturday mornings (one Saturday each month) in collaboration with Bau, a school design of our city (Barcelona).
Now we are working on the first edition of a Graphic Festival that is planned for each October, in Portbou, a little town in Costa Brava (Catalunya, Spain) in the border with France.
Which are the key ingredients for the success of your magazine?
Success? I don't think we have any success, maybe we are survivors. Anyway, maybe part of our possibilities to survive are the good relation we have with schools of design and their students, so they are who came to our presentations and buy the magazine. We also have a peculiarity, a group of familiars and friends that buy the magazine before it goes to print. They help us and we put his names in one page of the magazine and organize a party to present the new number and invite them to a beer and give them a little and special thing (for a number it was a metal type letter, for another one poster, for another a rubber stamp, this kind of things..).
What are the difficulties you are confronted with? What would be the thing to help the magazine to improve?
I think that for us the two difficult things are from one side the lack of professionalism. Each one of us have different jobs and many times it's difficult to combine with the work for the magazine. For other side, although I think it's usual to all graphic designers, for us it's difficult to write (well) over graphic design. We can talk about it, we have opinions, and ideas but it's very different try to express all these things on a paper, after all we are designers not writers.
The only way to improve the magazine I think that it's time. Time to work, time to talk, time to design, time to think... unfortunately time is very expensive.
Where do you want the magazine to be in five years?
Well, our only goal for the future is to get the continuity. Try to really produce two magazines each year. If we get that, we will be happy.
Tell us about your audience! Who are the readers of your magazine?
We are only sure of part of the audience: students of graphic design. We supose that the professionals read us too, and from number 14, we ¡have the translation to the text in English so we hope increase our audience.
Is remaining independent important to you? Is it part of the strategy?
Yes is a very important decision. We prefer to put money from our pockets than be forced to publish something that doesn't like us. As independents we only have to respond to ourselves.
Whats your relationship with advertisement? Does it influence your content? Do you care about advertising-driven-editorials?
We almost have no publicity. And the few one is only as exchange with other publications, as a way to be grateful with people who help us or this kind of things.
Anyway we like to have advertisement from bookstores, world of art, typography and so on.
What do you think of your issue 01, when you look back at it?
Well, our really first number, was 0 issue, For that number each of us design a double page, and the result is.. well really ugly. For that reason we change our way of working and each number is designed only by one person o team. Maybe the question have to be how we look back to number 5, our first, if we could sat that, professional number, and still think is OK. One of our goals, is that we like that you can read any number of the magazine without notice the year of publication. It's a kind of magazine intemporal, maybe more like a book than a traditional magazine.
Magazine favorite(s) that inspired you in your career.
Well we like to separate magazines in terms of contents and design. For the contents we like Dot,Dot,Dot, Esopus, Eye, Octavo or Emigre. Some of them have interesting design too, like Eye or Emigre and also Idea, Ray Gun, 032c, 137, Numero... well sure we forget a lot of them.
Do you keep old copies of magazines? If so, what is your favorite in your collection?
Yes I keep a lot of old numbers, one of my favorite collections is Octavo (an English typographic magazine). Also Andy Warhol's Interview (first numbers) and Colors with his changes in format, binding, etc.
How many magazines do you buy / get / read each month? Do you qualify yourself a maniac?
Yes probably I can be considered a magazine maniac. I buy some magazines each time they are in sell (Eye, Esopus, Colors, Rock de Lux, Benzina) although not of them are monthly.
I also pick up free magazines like LaMono, H, and others. At the same time I buy maybe 5 o6 different magazines each month but not always the sames ones. I change one month or another, it depends on the contents, a change in design o just to see how is the evolution of the magazine.
We are compiling answers from some of the most innovative magazine makers around the world today. Who else should we ask?
I don't know if you question to Dot,Dot, Dot (Peter Bilak), or the guy who is in charge of Esopus Magazine, or Monocle magazine.
Answered by Jaume Pujagut (Member of the collective)
Magazine: Grrr
Email: jaume@baued.es
Date: 09-09-2008
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