Help! The Print Industry is Dying
- Oct 24, 2017
- 3 min read
A cover of Elle Korea, one of my favourites of the year (Source: pinterest.com)
Which time period should we travel to first?
Some time in 2012. High school me was fed up with learning probability at math (I can't even use it to count how much chance I got to get the lucky draw benefit at a concert!) and was waiting for my mom in a salon. I had nothing to do and my BlackBerry messenger (it was a thing back then) was quiet, so I flipped through the Bazaar magazines they have there. And wow, I was enthralled with the editorials. Back then, the only magazines I read was the teen ones - Teen Vogue, Seventeen (US, not JP), and Gogirl (a local title). Fashion as a career was always on my mind, but those magazines were one of the stepping stones I encountered before my final decision on my major. Until today, I still think that Indonesian Bazaar produced some of the finest and standout editorials I've seen.
2015. Mid-year. I was moving across countries. The second worst thing about all this transfer situation, after leaving my then-life and friends behind, is the packing things home part. Alas, I had to throw away some of my magazines. It brought me to more tears. Heck, maybe I have a whole soju bottle* of tears because of this move.
2017. May. I had to design a media strategy for a project I was doing. I chose "New media supported by traditional media". However, when I wanted to contact the magazine I want to advertise my brand in, I found out that it closed print. I also received a tip from a Gojek** driver who said he left his job at a prominent weekly female magazine because the business was going bad.
I'll admit, because of what happened in 2015, I became very cautious when buying magazines. It was bulky and honestly, quite expensive if we are putting every single issue one would buy into account. Now, my magazine is my Facebook and Instagram feed, where I followed pages like BoF, W Korea, Drop Tokyo***, Nylon Singapore, and Vogue editions from all over the world. In a way, I actually read more publications from a wider portion of the world. So, I can't really say that print is dying without legitimate reasons.
But, what will happen to me then, who wants to go into fashion journalism, and whose education decision was entirely built with hoards of fashion magazines?
They say if Plan A doesn't work, there are still 25 other letters. I would think that the first, most sensible alternative is going to a digital media platform. Just off my head, I think of Into the Gloss, Refinery29, The Coveteur, plus websites of Allure, Vogue, and et cetera. Well, all of which I have mentioned are actually US-based. Some magazines in Indonesia are transitioning to digital completely, such as Nylon Indonesia and High End Teen. I would say there is an opening, but not a wide one in the market I would like to work in.
My second alternative would be going into a notable e-commerce platform and create content for them. Content marketing is on the rage right now, especially in the age of new information at your fingertips.
There is a third alternative. Be a multi-hyphenate freelancer / stylist / writer / designer / photographer / blogger striving for projects with brands. Taking references from Amanda Shadforth's Prada and Margaret Zhang's Chanel No. 5 L'Eau.
Alas, magazines will continue to exist - albeit more as a novelty rather than a source of current information or trend-setting content. I can't help to be anxious for the future, but also inherently excited for what's to come.
*Hyperbole and reference to the staple scene in every single Korean drama ever where a character drinks his/her sorrows away, usually followed by comedic drunken antics. Drinking is a huge part of their contemporary culture.
**An Indonesian application which started as a motorcycle-taxi service and evolved to a do-anything service provider. Mostly used by mager (acronym of malas gerak - meaning 'lazy (to) move') and time-saving individuals.
***I wish I could say I read the text as well, not just looking at the images. For the Korean publications, I am able to comprehend a bit of the text.
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