Mike Koedinger

On Wednesday, July 8, Colophon in collaboration with the Art Directors Club hosts a unique presentation and discussion about independent magazines entitled “The Future of Print”. This is an essential event for anyone involved in the creative industries.

July 1, 2009—New York, New York—The Art Directors Club (www.adcglobal.org), the premier organization for integrated media and the first global creative collective of its kind, presents—in collaboration with Colophon—a unique presentation and discussion about independent magazines entitled “The Future of Print”.

In recent years, an explosion of independent magazines has reinvigorated the medium of print. Freed from the constraints of the mainstream, independent magazines continually innovate and experiment for their devoted readers around the world. Energetic, groundbreaking, and unafraid these are magazines for readers who believe that print is still a vibrant medium. Colophon, in collaboration with the Art Directors Club investigates The Future of Print through a panel discussion featuring editors and publishers from Capricious, Print, Woooooo!, and The Nation. The Future of Print will be held on Wednesday, July 8th at the ADC in New York City.

To celebrate the launch of the new book We Make Magazines—Inside The Independents, published in conjunction with the Colophon Independent Magazine Biennale (www.colophon2009.com), Colophon and the Art Directors Club in New York presents a unique discussion event, exploring key issues around independent publishing with major figures from New York’s independent publishing scene. It’s an essential event for anyone interested in creative exploration, the future of print and the development of independent media brands.

The speakers include Sophie Mörner, founder and publisher, Capricious; Emily Gordon, editor-in-chief, Print, and Jason Crombie, editor and founder, Woooooo!. The panel led by Andrew Losowsky, Co-curator, Colophon and Editor, We Make Magazines, will discuss what makes magazines special, the secrets to publishing success, the importance of creative independence, whether you can make money from a passion project, and what’s next for print.

The Future of Print will be held on Wednesday July 8 from 6:30-8:30 pm in the ADC Gallery located at 104 West 29th Street in New York City.

Admission for The Future of Print is as follows:

- ADC Members: Free

- Non-Members: $5 at the door

Please visit http://www.adcglobal.org/adc/events/calendar

The Art Directors Club (www.adcglobal.org) is the premier organization for integrated media and the first international creative collective of its kind.  Founded in New York in 1920, the ADC is a non-profit membership organization whose mission is to connect creative visual communications professionals around the globe, and to provoke and elevate world-changing ideas.  It focuses on the highest standards of excellence in visual communications for the industry, and encourages students and young professionals entering the field.  ADC provides a forum for creatives in Advertising, Design, Interactive Media and Communications to explore the direction of these rapidly converging industries.

The Ville de Luxembourg and Mike Koedinger Editions invited selected guests to a sneak preview on Thursday 4 June of the city’s new publication, which will replace the existing Rendez-Vous City Magazine Luxembourg in September. Representatives from communications sector, the city’s cultural institutions and administrative departments saw the unveiling of a magazine that will reflect the cosmopolitan character of the capital.

Two and a half years after the new Rendez-Vous City Magazine Luxembourg was first published, with MKE in charge of production, the Ville de Luxembourg is preparing to launch a new look city magazine. “The idea behind the city magazine was three-fold,” says Mayor Paul Helminger. “To communicate with city residents and those from outside who work in the capital or visit for leisure, to enhance integration and to promote the image of the City of Luxembourg.”

Rendez-Vous took its name from the city’s well-established, but rather dated, cultural listings publication. That allowed for some continuity, although the new magazine encompassed a far wider range of content than its predecessor. Furthermore, the magazine was not only well-received by readers and decision-makers in Luxembourg but also gained international recognition when it won the Gold Award at the Best of Corporate Publishing awards in Germany in 2008. “Rendez-Vous mirrors the diversity and dynamism of society in the capital city,” says Helminger. “So why should we change what is a successful format?”

Reflecting innovation

The answer to that question, says the mayor, is that the city wants to even further develop the professionalism of its public relations, and improve the symbiosis between the image it wants to communicate and the publication. In addition to feedback from the first two and a half years of Rendez-Vous City Magazine Luxembourg, the team around City Manager Geraldine Knudson conducted analyses, via a questionnaire, of how the magazine could better meet their needs of its broad target readership. New values for the magazine were also established during a creative workshop involving the participation of experts from both the Ville de Luxembourg and MKE. The result was a firm conviction that the magazine should have a strong identity and reflect the city’s general aim to be innovative. “The plan was not to re-design the existing magazine, but to create a new one. Many important changes were necessary,” says Mike Koedinger.

The new publication will continue to provide information, identity and integration, but with what Knudson calls “less glitz; with a more humble approach.” The new magazine will feature more succinct articles and people profiles, as well as a fresh layout, format and structure. Knudson also says that a change of name was also necessary. “Because even after two and a half years, many people still thought that Rendez-Vous was a purely cultural magazine.” The teams from the Ville de Luxembourg and MKE say the new publication will help readers – be they long-term residents, new arrivals or visitors – understand the complexity of the city, as well as take advantage of its rich cultural programme. “Luxembourg is a very cosmopolitan city, especially for its size, and too many people, both inside and outside of the country, don’t know this,” says Knudson.

We Make Magazines - Window Display in Amsterdam

Our favourite Amsterdam magazine store -Athenaeum Nieuwscentre- dedicates a window display to “We Make Magazines”, our book published in the framework of Colophon 2009.

Athenaeum Nieuwscentre, Spui 14-16 – http://www.athenaeum.nl

How does it work?

1. Send a mail to Nathalie Brocker, paperJam Business Club project manager: nathalie.brocker@paperJam.lu and tell her that your organisation is creating new jobs in march 2009.

2. You’ll receive an access code and be able to publish your job offers during march 2009 on www.paperJam.jobs.

Ingrid, the studio for editorial design got a new ad.

(From left to right: Paul Helminger, Mike Koedinger, Jo Kox, Jean-Louis Schiltz; photo: David Laurent)

Colophon is an international biennial which brings together in Luxembourg, during the weekend of March 13 to 15, 2009, a public from around the world to celebrate excellence and innovation in the independent magazine industry.

With a circuit of fifteen exhibitions spread across Luxembourg City and approximately forty hours of conferences, creative roundtables, presentations and workshops, Colophon reaches out to a number of different audiences. The symposium attracts an international crowd hailing from the four corners of the earth. For this second edition, the organisers are planning to transform the entire city for the duration of this one weekend in March. In addition to the symposium, which addresses both professionals and students, the Luxembourg general public and that of the Greater Region will be able to visit the many exhibitions, participate in the daytime workshops intended for children and attend the nightly festivities.

Initiated in 2005 by Mike Koedinger, Jeremy Leslie and Andrew Losowsky— three media professionals—, Colophon was born within the framework of “Luxembourg and the Greater Region, European Capital of Culture 2007” and in collaboration with Casino Luxembourg – Forum d’art contemporain. Its success was instant with visitors coming from 25 different countries.

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The “Colophon 2009 – International Magazine Symposium” seeks volunteers! See behind the scenes at this major international symposium, meet the people behind some of the most creative magazines from around the world, get to know visitors and the owners of some of Luxembourg’s major galleries. This is a one-off opportunity to learn more about magazines while being a part of the organisation of this major international event.

You don’t need to have any specific skills, though the ability to speak both French and English would be a bonus. We need motivated, positive people, who are responsible and reliable. Everything else will be shown to you on the day. In return, we’ll give you refreshments and a free ticket to the event and to all its associated parties.

With more than a thousand magazine lovers visiting from around the world, and more than 15 venues to organise, we really need any help you can give us, to help build, maintain and take down our exhibitions, to help welcome the guest speakers, to help run the venues and the workshops, answer questions, guide people to the parties….

We need people for the period 6-16th March, as much availability as you can offer! We ask all volunteers to dedicate a minimum of one full day to helping out, ideally between 13-15th March, when the main event takes place.

Click here to see a video of the 2007 edition of the event.

This year’s will be bigger and better! Come and be a part of it with us.

Mike Koedinger was talking about “World’s best, surprising and innovative independent magazines” at the 3rd Customer Media Congress in Haarlem / Amsterdam in the Netherlands on November 26th 2008.

The Colophon 2009 – International Magazine Symposium is back to the Grand Duchy! The second international biennial, to take place in March and April 2009, will host colloquia, conferences, exhibitions and experimental workshops, gathering worldwide creators of independent magazines and experts.

“The cultural and scientific event  remains also open to everyone, much like a festival,” Didier Damiani, the symposium’s project manager explained.

Initiated in Luxembourg in 2007 and produced by Mike Koedinger in collaboration with the Casino Luxembourg – Forum for contemporary art, the second edition of the event will propose a broad and soaring programme dedicated to independent magazines. This time, Jeremy Leslie, Andrew Losowsky and Mike Koedinger, the curators of Colophon, have chosen to expand the academic conference within the whole capital city.

Among this edition’s highlights, the Colophon 2009 Symposium, held from March 13th to 15th, 2009 at Casino Luxembourg – Forum for contemporary art. Addressing an expected audience of ca 3,000, big-name experts (art directors, publishers, writers, editors, journalists, academics) from the international magazines industry will line-up in conferences, panel discussions and unique interviews. Invited speakers will introduce new topics and take part in innovative debates in this growing and successful industry.

Furthermore, exhibitions, talks, events and one-off publications will be presented, all aiming to celebrate excellence and innovation in the independent magazine industry, by promoting exchanges between key players within the international magazine industry and stimulating exchange and creativity.

Far bigger and more ambitious

The symposium programme includes as well an educational dimension, with a number of experimental workshops led by professionals.

Ten additional exhibitions will create a magazine trail through the City of Luxembourg, with routes featuring special installations by ten specially selected independent magazines.

Museums, the Cinémathèque, art galleries, shops, restaurants and cafes might join the trail and host the event’s attendees.

This second edition will also see the publication of a book “We Love 2 Magazines”, including an international directory of independent magazines and relevant articles about the industry.

The event promised to be far bigger and more ambitious than the previous one, and will surely position Grand Duchy as an internationally significant biennial celebrating the worldwide independent magazines creation. For more information: www.colophon2009.com