According to the PPA: The event, which took place at Our Dynamic Earth and is supported by strategic partners Pensord and Primitive Media, opened on August 26 with a packed design workshop, which was followed on August 27 by four stimulating speaker sessions that successfully tackled the themes most pertinent in magazine publishing today.
Editorial, creative and new media experts engaged in debate and discussion over the two days to the backdrop of a stunning exhibition of magazines – The Rise of Print – which was specially co-curated for MagFest by Jeremy Leslie, Creative Director of magCulture and Andrew Losowsky, Books Editor of The Huffington Post, New York.
Leslie also headed up a team of experts to facilitate the design workshop in which teams of delegates were taken through a practical assignment to develop an audience profile for a new magazine, design a launch cover and pitch their creation to the other teams. The success of the workshop exceeded all expectations, with passionate discussion about all aspects of magazine design lasting long past the workshop's allocated two hours.
Losowsky joined esteemed publishing alumni on one of four panel discussions that tackled: entrepreneurship in publishing, the serious business of making money, the digital dialogue, and what the future holds for magazines. Other speakers included John Bird MBE, Founder of The Big Issue; Jim Wolff, Digital Planner at The Leith Agency; Max von Abendroth, Executive Director of EMMA and Matt Phare, Creative Director at ShortList Media.
Kathy Crawford Hay, Business Manager at PPA Scotland, said: "MagFest has been an uplifting and exciting couple of days and we are very proud of what we have achieved at this inaugural event. We are extremely grateful to our wonderful line-up of speakers – the feedback from our delegates, exhibitors and sponsors has been terrific."
MagFest is the first festival in the UK dedicated to magazines. The event coincided with the wider season of arts and cultural events that collectively make up the Edinburgh Festival and aims to build a platform to promote Scottish publishing, showcase national and international titles, and reach out to a new generation of writers, editors and designers.
