Retrospective: Total Armageddon by Slanted Publishers
Established in 2004 as a typographic and layout focused web blog, Germany’s Slanted Publishers have since grown into a well-established magazine within the design industry, covering everything from illustration, graphic design, photography and of course, typography. Running consecutively online and as a beautiful print journal, it’s a must read for any designer wishing to gain new perspectives.
“A publication for our loyal friends and also new design enthusiasts alike.”
Slanted Publishers
Their bumper issues (you’ll need some extra room on your shelf!) focus on a different city each issue, and delve into unexplored design hubs across the world. From their latest ‘Prague’ release this month (which I’m eagerly awaiting to arrive in the post), Slanted have also covered far reaching places such as Tokyo, Dubai (pictured below), Portugal and Helsinki, with incredible prose and style.
Priced in the higher range of design-led magazines (18€ an issue), the average issue contains 250 pages plus an extra booklet for further reading. It’s notable to say that they have come a long way since their humble beginnings as a German web blog, to a now international design journal with a strong designer fanbase.
Total Armageddon – A Slanted Reader on Design
Published in March 2019, their pivotal release ‘A Slanted Reader on Design’ (which retails for 30€) is a sight to behold. Slanted write, “The book celebrates 15 years of independent publishing and brings together the who is who of authors and essays from 32 issues of Slanted Magazine.” It’s a beautiful manifestation of typography, layout and production techniques which pay homage to their established success within design writing.
“TOTAL ARMAGEDDON is about design. And culture. And complexity, notably how we, as a global civilization, deal with science fiction, taste, social media, the cities we live in, aesthetics, PowerPoint, burkas, Big Tech, full-contact sports, and other thorny topics,” Slanted write on their website. “A collection of both essays that are brand new, as well as the very best essays from past issues of Slanted Magazine, written by the most vital and vibrant global voices in writing on design and culture today such as Steven Heller, Piotr Rypson, Gerry Leonidas, Yoon Soo Lee, Kiyonori Muroga, and a host of others.”
It is also worth noting that Slanted financed this special publication via Kickstarter, as they attempted to “integrate our audience and followers to be a part of the creative process, a publication for our loyal friends and also new design enthusiasts alike.” With this in mind, it’s a welcome break from the regular graphic design publication, and showcases the design acumen they have gathered over the many years in the industry.
With the noise of multiple design journals hitting the shelves each month, it’s incredibly refreshing to pick-up the Slanted works. Each thought-provoking issue welcomes new design communities from around the world, whilst providing much-needed fresh perspective on the world of design. The new and pivotal ‘TOTAL ARMAGEDDON: Slanted Reader on Design’ publication sounds like an invaluable collection of design writing that offers a retrospective worthy of the past 15 years in the Slanted world; a collection which is worthy of any shelf.
Find Slanted:
Slanted Publishers on the web here.
‘Slanted Reader on Design’ is out now. View the book in their online shop here.
Slanted on Behance.
All photos property of Slanted Publishing.
Many thanks to Slanted for gifting me a copy of the publication following its original posting on a previous blog.
