Eye issue 74
Delivered to Stack subscribers in Dec 2009

by Lucy Corkish in June 2013

Arguably the greatest, most authoritative independent design title in the world, Eye is the London-based magazine that casts its gaze over visual culture in all its forms, from graphic design and photography through illustration and typography.

Name
John L. Walters

Job title
Editor

What is Eye?
Eye is the world’s most beautiful and collectable graphic design journal, published quarterly for professional designers, students and anyone interested in critical, informed writing about graphic design and visual culture.

What makes it different to the rest?
You can enjoy it like a magazine and keep it like a book – we hope that Eye is both cool and collectable. We aim for a high standard of writing, editing, editorial design, repro and print production. I try to find contributors who are really knowledgeable about (and/or obsessed by) their subjects, who really want to do their best for the magazine.

Who makes Eye?
Simon Esterson (Art Director) and myself, supported by a worldwide network of contributors and collaborators. These include writers, bloggers, sub-editors, picture editors, proofreaders, designers, photographers, editorial interns, ranters, letter-writers, advertisers, advertising sales people, the repro house, the printers and binders and our fulfilment and distribution houses.

Who reads it? 
Eye is for anyone interested in graphic design and visual culture. We have subscribers who have been collecting it since it launched in 1990, and readers in more than 50 countries worldwide, from senior art directors to students; from developers to academics.

Why do you work in magazines?
It’s a great medium. At its best, a magazine can be a great marriage of content and design – slower and more considered than newspapers or blogs, but speedier and less permanent or daunting than a book. A quarterly is a good pace at which to reflect upon the constantly evolving present, and to re-evaluate and rediscover what’s gone before.

Aside from the print magazine, what else are you involved in? 
Since we became independent (in April 2008), we launched a blog with regular posts about design and visual culture. There is a regularly updated Events page on the Eye website and this year we have promoted several Type Tuesday events at St Bride Library – the next two will take place on the evenings of 10 September and 10 December 2013.

Twitter (along with other social media channels such as Instagram) has become an enjoyable new way of connecting with a new audience, recontextualising our sizeable archive of articles, back issues and five years’ worth of blog posts. Occasionally, Simon and/or I take part in international conferences and seminars – we’re involved in AGI Open (September 2013), ATypI and Integrated2013 (October 2013).

What would you change about Eye if you could?
Increase the circulation. Eye changes and evolves with each issue – there are always new challenges: new subjects, new people, new technologies, new angles, etc.

Can you pick a favourite issue of Eye? 
Eye 85, the most recent issue, with the Jeanne Moreau cover, and Eye 84, the Monotype special. Looking back further, there’s Eye 78 (with its focus on information design) and Eye 53 (‘Brand madness special issue’) and Eye 48.

Where do you see Eye in five years?
Right now, there are many designers and design writers who are still at school or university or in the early stages of their careers. In five years’ time, many of them will be reading Eye; some of them may be helping to make it; a number of them might be featured in it.