In the UK, of the top 10 best selling publications, 7 are women’s weeklies or monthlies and the remaining 3 are TV listings magazines. In at number 1 is the TV Choice selling over a million copies in 2018 with turnover hitting a little over £37 million!

However, here at Hughes & Co, we really appreciate the hard work and carefully contrived paper based decision-making many smaller-independent publications take to improve reader experience.

Shiny publications firmly play an important role in British print, but here are 5 great independent publications you have to buy! If only to feel (and smell) the print quality…

The Ozone Roastery Journal:

Regardless of whether you’re interested in speciality coffee, and the coffee shop culture that sits alongside it, the media selection in combination with print quality really stands out from others in the Food & Beverage industry. The Ozone Journal, ‘Our Journal’ is bi-annual and encompasses a range of subjects; recently collaborating with Anthony Burrill,– a true creative heavyweight as he discusses that ‘Print Is Not Dead’. This publication (vol 4) can still be purchased directly from Ozone’s website.

Kinfolk:

Delving deeply into home, work, style and culture, Kinfolk promotes quality of life and connects a global community of creative professionals from London to Tokyo. This publication is carefully contrived and attracts a small, but loyal readership of around 170,000 each quarter. With a mixture of mediums and random, yet harmonised layouts – Kinfolk not only inspires, but simultaneously sooths the mind through physical and quality. This quarterly publication is available to buy online and in selected retailers across the UK.

It’s Nice That – Printed Pages:

Founded in 2007, trend-spotting, super cool East London group “It’s Nice That” has quickly grown and now reaches over a million people each month. Since SS/2017 they have been creating a bi-annual publication that brings together ‘the best from the creative world’ with interviews, architecture, illustrations, graphic design photography and fashion. The playful graphics and clever imagery simply pop on page, sparking creativity and a palpable ‘feel good factor’.  Their SS/2019 edition is due out any minute and will be available to purchase directly from “It’s Nice That”.

OOF:

Pairing the seemingly mismatched worlds of Art and Football, OOF somehow stitches the two together brilliantly.  Art’s job is to deconstruct the world, to help us figure out what everything means, to offer new perspectives.  The artists featured in OOF peel back the layers of meaning in this obsessive sport, and help us make sense of something bigger and more ungraspable in the process. OOF hopefully goes a little way towards laying all of that bare. Football and art have been intertwined for centuries, OOF are just making that connection more accessible for the 21^stCentury audience. Interestingly “It’s Nice That” interviewed the founders of OOF in February 2018 – you can read the article here.

Weapons of Reason:

Think Private Eye, only without the; endless ‘in-joke’ style humour, over complication of facts and political bias! Weapons of Reason’s aim is to make the most complex of global issues of today ‘ruthlessly simple’ whilst remaining impartial, sincere and without agenda. What we particularly enjoy about this publication is their approach to illustration: “In a world saturated by photography, image-making has an extraordinary power to better communicate stories that matter. We’re experts in translating complex ideas into a clear, clean visual language.”.

Looking for Print Advice?

No this isn’t a name for another brilliantly printed publication! If you are looking for any advice feel free to get in touch and have a chat!