Amor de Cosmos

Ryan Bigge did his master’s thesis on Vice Magazine. Later, he wrote this article for an audience of publishers at Masthead about Vice’s business technique. Two examples:

* Always Stay in Character. Vice began as free monthly newsprint (Voice of Montreal) in 1994 (renaming itself Vice in the fall of 1996) and went glossy in October of 1998. Soon after, it moved HQ from Montreal to New York, and has since gone on to start a record label, open a half-dozen clothing stores, launch an online video site (vbs.tv), put out a DVD travel guide and publish two anthologies. Despite hopping from platform to platform with the frequency of a cheap ham radio, Vice has managed to transfer its essential “Viceness” to each of these projects, allowing the magazine to reach new viewers without alienating their core audience.

* Slick Design is Overrated. At the risk of understatement, Vice’s content is colourful. Over the years, the magazine has published large photographs of vomit, clothing advertisements starring porn stars and a review of a NAMBLA Bulletin. Almost as shocking as Vice’s content is their low-key design, which an editor once admitted “was ripped off from National Geographic.” Until recently, the magazine eschewed typical front-of-book conventions like tightly packaged info-nuggets, instead preferring plenty of white space. This anti-design approach served the magazine well, helping it to avoid the eye-burning graphic design excess of other cutting-edge magazines like Wired and Raygun. Vice’s look and feel also remained constant between 2001-2006, which, in an era of frequent (and often unnecessary) redesigns is an accomplishment worth observing.