This quarterly magazine of design and typography continually pushes the limits of aesthetic conventions. Their brazen style and piss-on-statues philosophy has turned lots of heads -- many towards them, many against. You've got to love their refreshing spirit of play and experimentation. "Emigre" is a great place to look for totally new approaches to tired old design solutions. And, even when you don't like their approach to something, your reaction can often crystallize your own solution. While many ideas may be too radical for lots of real-world applications, you can alter them to fit your own situation.
All this is rather double-edged. It's great that "Emigre" is shaking up the design world, but it's sad to see how quickly the extreme ideas of the avant-garde (as they pass through "Emigre") can be snatched up by the mainstream. Emigre-like design and typography is showing up everywhere, from the supermarket trash press to the evening news. The weirder the magazine gets -- in its pursuit of the unconventional -- that weirdness becomes the new convention. I find this somehow unsettling, even as I am a participant (I'm a graphic arts professional who plagiarizes from "Emigre" for commercial applications).
"Emigre" also publishes music and a large library of fonts they have designed. Write for a catalog.
(G. Branwyn)
Links:
ACCESS:
Emigre Magazine
48 Shattuck Square No. 175
Berkeley, CA 94704
$28/4 oversized issues.
Each issue is shipped in a cardboard box/mailer.
Here is the TEXT POPUP for Emigre:
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