Callithump! is all about reinventing the magazine for the Internet age. We don’t think that electronic publishing makes physical publishing is obsolete per se. However, if physical publishing fails recognize and utilize the unique possibilities that only exist in physical space, it deserves extinction.
We’re not the only ones who think so. Even that old dinosaur the Wall Street Journal noticed, and devoted a fine article to it: Reinventing the Magazine: Publications That Push the Boundaries of the Print Medium.
Magical things happen when publishers rise to the challenge of staying relevant in the face of electronic publishing. Take T-Post, for example:
The magazine is a T-shirt! This is one of those Damn, I wish I’d thought of that! ideas. Of course there have been t-shirt subscription services before, but this is the first time I’ve seen the idea spun this way. The t-shirt accompanies an article, so the shirt actually serves as an editorial illustration. From their website:
More than just a fashion piece, T-post uses great design as a subversive tool to instigate meaningful thought, conversation, and action.
It’s a communication experiment that typically begins with a compliment like ”Nice t-shirt” and continues with the wearer explaining the interesting news story behind the design.
I love their spin on this commonplace object, and how the wearer becomes an integral part of the piece itself.
La Lata takes an idea from Fluxus and presents itself as a can of art objects. It breaks free of what can be expressed within the limits of bound paper to what can be contained within a can. Just look at this wonderfulness:
Media purveyed in a can is actually something we’ve been planning on doing for some time. It’s in our DNA. If America’s lima bean craze hadn’t ended, Jess might be heir to the Brakeley Canning Company fortune:
One day we’ll do a series of canned art products as the Brakeley Canning Company to make sure the name lives on.
So Callithump! is really just part of a larger trend! If we’re successful, the so-called “death of print” could actually lead to a much richer physical media environment.
