spatium - Magazin für Typografie

spatium im Interview

25. August 2006 Peter Reichard

Marc Koedinger, der Organisator der Magazin Konferenz »Colophon« (9.–11. März 2007 in Luxemburg) hat spatium in die Magazin-Datenbank aufgenommen und zu diesem Zweck im Juli ein Interview mit uns geführt. Das Interview ist in Englisch. DiesesInterview wollen wir euch jedoch auch hier präsentieren:

What is your magazine about?

Spatium is about typography in all its facets.

Who’s behind the project? Tell us about the founders, their backgrounds and their motivations!

At the moment we are three persons. I started in 1999 with a pdf-magazine and later a friend joined me. The first motivation was experimenting with typography and graphic design as part of my education as media designer. Now the magazine is an expression of our love for typography and also a representative project for our graphic bureau TYPOSITION. Embassy for Typography and Design in Offenbach am Main.

How do you produce one issue? How much time do you spend on it? How big is your team?

First we search a topic which is interesting for us and hopefully could be for others too. Then we ask other people like typedesigners and graphic designers etc. about the topic and we combine their contributions with our parts. How much time? I don’t know. It’s a lot and we don’t write it down – it is better for our motivation. spatium is a non-profit magazine and it depends on how much time is left from our commercial jobs. Our team? Three at the moment, but most time only two.

What have been the important steps in the life of your magazine?

First, the first issue as pdf-magazine, 29 followed. We started with two pages and ended with 40. So the next step was to end the pdf-era and to publish the first printed issue in 2001. And since this time, every published issue is the next important step for us.

Which are the key incredients for the success of your magazine?

Unusual topics, bilingualism (German-English) and contributions from all over the world. The international aspect of typography is important for spatium and for our readers.

What are the difficulties you are confronted with?
What would be “the” thing to help the magazine to improve?

Lack of money and lack of time. There is nothing to improve, but more money to finance it and a bigger typo-loving team could guarantee a more continious publishing.

Where do you want the magazine to be in five years?

In five years, I would like to hold in hands issue ten and I hope I also will have had fun to make the magazines during the years.

Tell us about your audience! Who are the readers of your magazine?

We don’t have made examinations about our audience, but most of them are also typo-loving graphic designers, type designers, students, agencies from Europe and also from around the world.

Is remaining independent important to you? Is it part of the strategy?

Yes independence is good for the content. So we(!) can choose the topic and write what we think about it. There is no influence of companies or associations.

What’s your relationship with advertisement? Does it influence your content? Do you care about advertising-driven-editorials?

Until yet we haven’t had any ads, but some paper companies and the embossing of our covers was sponsored. We mentioned it in the imprint. But it did not influence the content. Content was first, sponsoring came later. Perhaps we try it in the next issues to finance the magazine partly about ads.

Do you think that magazine readers still need to watch TV?

Yes, why not? Magazines don’t cover up all subjects and TV could be more current.

Which is your relationship with your printer? Does he play a main role in your development?

We have a good relationship with our printers, it’s a teamwork which every printed project needs. But the main role is the content and the layout. Printer plays a main role for finishing the good ideas in a good way.

Which magazines did influence you most? What are you looking for in other magazines?

A difficult question. I think we did not search for inspiration from other magazines. There is no direct influence from other mags, perhapy an indirect influence but I can not say it exactly. In other magazines I look of the typography and the layout more than the photos. And also at the content, if is it interesting for me.

What do you think of your issue 01, when you look back at it?

The pdf-files were the first steps, they were not perfect but we needed them to come all the way to where we are now. I think you can see a development.

What question did you never ask in your magazine but would have liked to?

There is now question I didn’t ask but would have liked to. The latest question I would ask you can see in the next issue about type specimen books.

How many magazines do you buy / get / read each month? Do you qualify yourself a maniac?

I buy/read 3–5 magazines each month. Is this enough to be a little maniac? I am typo-maniac, but not only for magazines.

E-mail interview from “03.07.2006”. © Colophon2007.com – Mike Koedinger Editions SA (Luxembourg)

Kategorie: spatium Magazin