Playtimes
PlayTimes, a toy publication that reaches designers and collectors across the globe with its timely updates.
Henderson Industrial Park, Singapore
Block 203, Wing B, Henderson Road #03-07, 159546
Email: yiting@playimaginative.com
- Category: Graphic Design
- Periodicity: Monthly
- Language: English / Mandarin
- Format: 205 x 290 mm
- Circulation: 15,000
- Price: $ 6
Founded in 2005
PlayTimes, a Singapore toy publication that is produced and published monthly reaches designers and collectors across the globe in 20 countries with its timely updates.
Get the scoop of the latest developments, the “what’s hot”, as well as toy-related events, toy concepts and character designs within the urban vinyl toy landscape.
PlayTimes delves into new trends, technology, events and advancements within the urban vinyl toy scene worldwide. At the same time, the publication is a mouthpiece for the toy community, and aims to cultivate understanding among companies on the role of designer toys in marketing their products and profiling their brands.
Each issue of PlayTimes is a collectible in itself, featuring a customised cover uniquely conceptualised and illustrated by a popular designer.
Showcasing exclusive interviews with celebrated designers each month, PlayTimes is available in 2 languages – English and Mandarin.
Exclusive Interview
We are really proud of our first issue as that was our first attempt in publishing.
What is your magazine about?
Playtimes, a Singapore toy publication that is produced and published monthly reaches designers and collectors across the globe in over 20 countries with its timely updates. Get the scoop of the latest developments, the “what’s hot”, as well as toy-related events, toy concepts and character designs within the urban vinyl toy landscape.
Playtimes delves into new design & character trends, technology, events and advancements within the urban vinyl toy scene worldwide. At the same time, the publication is a mouthpiece for the ever-expanding toy community, and aims to cultivate understanding among companies on the role of designer toys in marketing their products and profiling their brands.
Each issue of Playtimes is a collectible in itself, featuring a customised cover uniquely conceptualised and illustrated by a popular designer, as well as exclusive interviews with celebrated designers each month.
Who’s behind the project? Tell us about the founders, their backgrounds and their motivations!
Playtimes is the brainchild of our founders, Jacky Teo and Darren Gan. Jacky’s background stems from other toy-related businesses and he used to distribute other designer toys such as CI Boys in Singapore. Darren has a background in industrial design.
When they came up with ‘trexi’, their flagship canvas toy, they also started Playtimes. They felt that the company needed a magazine with an international presence in order to reach out to all our audiences around the world. The support that has been shown to Playtimes by readers and collectors since its launch has been a major motivating force.
How do you produce one issue? How much time do you spend on it? How big is your team?
Playtimes is put together by a very small but very dedicated team out of Singapore. We also work closely with our team of contributors from Taiwan, UK, Hong Kong and USA. Each issue takes about 2-3 weeks to complete.
What have been the important steps in the life of your magazine?
The launch, the growth of the magazine worldwide and having people actually thinking that Playtimes is produced in the USA.
Which are the key ingredients for the success of your magazine?
We have a great editorial and design team who are extremely committed to their work and are always looking for new ways to excite our readers. We also have established good relationships with designers and artists worldwide and there is seldom a shortage of material to write about.
What are the difficulties you are confronted with? What would be “the” thing to help the magazine to improve?
Answer: There are always challenges with every issue but with us being a monthly, I think time and money would be the main one.
Where do you want the magazine to be in five years?
Answer: To have broader international distribution. We would like to find our magazine in our favourite gallery shops and bookstores and hopefully most news-stands around the world. We would also like to see Playtimes in many other languages too. There’s been interest to produce Playtimes in French, Dutch, Japanese and Chinese.
Tell us about your audience! Who are the readers of your magazine?
Playtimes reaches men and women aged between 20 to 40 years of age. Our readers include trendsetters and innovators who are tuned to the ever-evolving toy culture, as well as serious collectors and those who are interested in the toy, design, art and street culture.
Is remaining independent important to you? Is it part of the strategy?
Yes, it is important because our industry is relatively fast moving. We need to keep with the times.
What’s your relationship with advertisement? Does it influence your content? Do you care about advertising-driven-editorials?
I think publications should be the one influencing their advertisers and not the other way around. We try not to care so much about advertising-driven-editorials, unless both of us – the advertiser and us, are on the same level. (E.g. Ideas, causes, etc…)
Do you think that magazine readers still need to watch TV?
Of course they do!! Where else can they get their dose of Adult Swim then?! It’s a whole different medium altogether and there’s something for everyone, just like magazines.
Which is your relationship with your printer? Does he play a main role in your development?
We have a good relationship with them because they’re the ones who make the magazine look good!!
Which magazines did influence you most? What are you looking for in other magazines?
The Face, Tokion, ID (International Design), Juxtapoz, iDN, Relax, Thrasher, Creative Review, Wired… Interesting editorial content and design is usually what I look for in other magazines.
What do you think of your issue 01, when you look back at it?
We are really proud of our first issue as that was our first attempt in publishing. I think we look more professional now in content, design and editorial.
How many magazines do you buy / get / read each month? Do you qualify yourself a maniac?
I think all of us here qualify as maniacs and since we work art/design, we have to keep ourselves current.
E-mail interview from “13.10.2006”. © Colophon2007.com – Mike Koedinger Editions SA (Luxembourg)
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