mag hag.

I have a weakness for magazines. I think it started with my childhood subscription to Ranger Rick. Or maybe it has something to do with the walk-in closet in the basement where my mom kept dusty old copies of National Geographic and Architectural Digest. As a teenager, I made scrapbooks with clippings of my favorite images and papered my walls with torn-out pages.

matchbook

Over the years I've subscribed to everything from Seventeen and Jane to Travel + Leisure, Coastal Living, and Lucky. My subscriptions reflect my life at any given time, and lately I've been moving toward online magazines.

I'm so impressed with the new generation of publications like Matchbook, High Gloss, and Rue.  Somehow, the women behind all of these magazines — many of whom started out as bloggers — have managed to put together products that I like more than anything I've seen in years. And as much as I enjoy the familiar feel of flipping through glossy pages, I really appreciate the new capabilities of online media, like clickable links, lower overhead costs, and more design flexibility.

 rue

They're inspiring to me because they prove that even though print may be dying a slow death, writing and journalism aren't — they're just evolving in a really exciting way.

   
high gloss

For newbies, From the Right Bank recently had a guest post from Mackenzie of Design Darling breaking down four of the major lady mags out right now. Here it is.