Ralph magazine is publishing for the fun of it
Ralph magazine is an attempt to do things differently. Published by Ralph, a creative agency with offices in London, LA, Tokyo and Mumbai, it’s a print magazine that was created to swim against the digital tide.
In the podcast conversation above, CEO Chris Hassell explains that over the last five to 10 years, and especially since the pandemic, the agency’s work has become increasingly driven by social media. But he’s wary of the big platforms, and sceptical about the realities of being creative while trying to please an algorithm, and so he started looking for an alternative outlet.
“We want to stand for something,” he says. “We want to stand for being led by creativity and joy… If you build your business on social media, which by its very nature is driven by the robots, then it doesn’t really encourage creative exploration.”
He started playing around with an idea for a print magazine with the strapline, “Pop culture for the fun of it”, and in 2024 he brought in Josh Jones, editor of Huck, Sandwich, Marvin, and many other magazines, and author of the book, Just Make Your Magazine. Working together, the two of them fixed on the spirit of 90s media as a guiding light:
“It wasn’t to recreate the 90s,” Josh explains. “It was to channel the chaotic fun of the 90s. Like the early MTV aesthetic, the sort of optimism and [the sense] we can try this and not everything needs to be super polished… They didn’t have to go through several rounds of amends and sign offs and stuff. It was, let’s just try it, and we can polish it if it’s successful.”
That free-wheeling spirit jumps off the page, with a playful mix of stories that deliberately goes broad rather than trying to address itself to a single demographic. But just because Ralph magazine is built around fun, that doesn’t mean it’s not also a serious undertaking.
Around a decade ago there were lots of magazines made by creative agencies as a sort of calling card; a way of driving new business by showing potential clients what the creative team can do. There might be an element of that here too, but according to Chris, the business aim is more existential: “It’s more than just an agency publishing a magazine. It’s an agency evolving into being something more than an agency… the magazine is the heart and soul to build that from.”
You can hear our full conversation on the podcast episode above, or watch it via the video below. And if you’d like to see or hear more magazine makers speaking about what they do, follow us on Spotify or YouTube, or just search for “Stack Magazines” wherever you get your podcasts, and we’ll be able to deliver all our new episodes to you as soon as they’re ready.
