When I started grad school in 2009, it was in the midst of the publishing industry crisis. Newspapers were closing, magazines were panicking, everyone was afraid of Kindles and iPads. I was lucky enough to work with Joel Lovell, who framed those headlines in terms of opportunity: It's the best time to be starting out, he said. You can be the people who change things, who find new ways of writing and reading.
And of course he was right. People rushed to save longform nonfiction, newspapers still exist, and phones—not dedicated reading devices—have seemingly won readers' hearts. Though many mobile sites still have a long way to go until they make sense, this ubiquitous reading has been a good thing. Online magazines, which once seemed so...amateur...are now producing some of the most innovative work in the genre. That's what I'm talking about today: my two favorite online mags. (Well, aside from the one I edited for a while.)
Aeon. A multimedia mag that I can't get enough of. They're asking such cool questions (why does sadness make better art than happiness?) and tackling subjects nobody else is getting at (why we need darkness). It's a magazine that approaches the cool parts of philosophy and art, but without all the self-important jargon of the field. The stuff you never knew you wondered about. On a larger scale, The Atlantic makes these moves, and I love their stories too, but it's particularly exciting when a new player comes onto the field. Their film arm is doing some gorgeous work too.
Nautilus. Beautiful, scientifically inclined stories. A new themed issue each month, encased in the right kind of images and design effects. They'll make you care about cosine functions among other technical conundrums. I'm a little disappointed that they're heading toward subscription-style access, but even so, the articles they do make available are well worth a read.
And of course he was right. People rushed to save longform nonfiction, newspapers still exist, and phones—not dedicated reading devices—have seemingly won readers' hearts. Though many mobile sites still have a long way to go until they make sense, this ubiquitous reading has been a good thing. Online magazines, which once seemed so...amateur...are now producing some of the most innovative work in the genre. That's what I'm talking about today: my two favorite online mags. (Well, aside from the one I edited for a while.)
Aeon. A multimedia mag that I can't get enough of. They're asking such cool questions (why does sadness make better art than happiness?) and tackling subjects nobody else is getting at (why we need darkness). It's a magazine that approaches the cool parts of philosophy and art, but without all the self-important jargon of the field. The stuff you never knew you wondered about. On a larger scale, The Atlantic makes these moves, and I love their stories too, but it's particularly exciting when a new player comes onto the field. Their film arm is doing some gorgeous work too.
Nautilus. Beautiful, scientifically inclined stories. A new themed issue each month, encased in the right kind of images and design effects. They'll make you care about cosine functions among other technical conundrums. I'm a little disappointed that they're heading toward subscription-style access, but even so, the articles they do make available are well worth a read.
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