14 Essential Magazines for Graphic Designers
In spite of the tremendous expansion of the Internet, the power of the printed word remains strong and popular.
Print media is where it all began and today we take a close look at some amazing design magazines that can really boost your productivity and expand your design knowledge.
In addition to their printed versions, some magazines also offer online versions on their websites as well as PDF downloads and single issue orders. Order online or pick them up at your local bookstore.
Here’s our recommended list with descriptions taken from each magazine’s website…
Web Designer
Web Designer is the UK’s premier publication for the discerning online author.
Aimed at all those at intermediate to professional levels within the trendy 20-35 age bracket, its predominantly tutorial-based format follows cutting-edge projects in Dreamweaver, Flash, and Photoshop.
Supplemented by the latest industry news and feature topics, Web Designer reflects all that is inspirational and exciting about working with new media content – representing the only choice of its kind on the newsstand.
Layers Magazine
Layers magazine provides in-depth tutorials, cutting-edge techniques, secret tweaks, expert insights, and a wealth of information about the entire Adobe Creative Suite®, including InDesign®, Illustrator®, Photoshop®, Acrobat®, Lightroom®, After Effects®, Premiere Pro®, Dreamweaver®, and Flash®.
Published six times a year, Layers provides the design ideas, 3D rendering tricks, digital video concepts, artist portfolio profiles, unbiased product reviews, and current industry news that make Layers an absolute must-read for today’s creative professional.
Photoshop Creative
Photoshop® Creative is the perfect magazine for learning more about Adobe’s outstanding application.
Each issue is packed with inspirational tutorials covering the whole scope of the software, from creative projects, to practical guides to using tools and techniques.
Readers also benefit from a collectable CD-ROM each issue. Whatever you use Photoshop for, Photoshop creative will help you become a better digital artist.
.Net
.net is the world’s best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. As well as a host of great features, .net magazine also boasts more than 30 pages of tutorials each issue, covering topics such as CSS, PHP, Flash, JavaScript, web graphics, and more – all written by contributors from some of the world’s biggest design agencies.
Each month you’ll also receive a packed CD, including an hour of video projects, full software, templates, tutorial files, and more!
Each month .net includes the hottest new sites from around the web, features a bevy of brilliant tutorials, and covers the major issues affecting designers and developers.
Print is a bimonthly magazine about visual culture and design. Founded in 1940 by William Edwin Rudge, Print is dedicated to showcasing the extraordinary in design on and off the page.
Covering a field as broad as communication itself—publication and book design, animation and motion graphics, corporate branding and rock posters, exhibitions and street art—Print covers commercial, social, and environmental design from every angle. Engagingly written by cultural reporters and critics who look at design in its social, political, and historical contexts, Print explores why our world looks the way it looks, and why the way it looks matters.
A four-time winner of the American Society of Magazine Editors’ National Magazine Award for General Excellence, most recently in 2008, Print has been honored many times by ASME, the Society of Publication Designers, AIGA, The Art Directors Club, and The Type Directors Club.
I.D.
Looking for cutting-edge design from every discipline? Insight into what drives the hottest design trends? Unique coverage of the world’s best designers? Then discover I.D. and get the one design magazine that covers it all: concepts, products, environments, interactive, furniture, and more.
Published since 1954, I.D. Magazine is America’s leading critical magazine covering the art, business, and culture of design.
Winner of five National Magazine Awards, the publication appears seven times a year. Issues include the Annual Design Review (America’s oldest and most prestigious juried design-recognition program) as well as the I.D. 40, and Design + Business.
How
HOW magazine’s goal is to help designers, whether they work for a design firm, for an in-house design department or for themselves, run successful, creative, profitable studios.
HOW strives to serve the business, technological and creative needs of graphic-design professionals. The magazine provides a practical mix of essential business information, up-to-date technological tips, the creative whys and hows behind noteworthy projects, and profiles of professionals who are influencing design.
Founded in 1985, the HOW brand now extends beyond the print magazine to annual events for design professionals, yearly design competitions, digital products and books.
Communication Arts
Communication Arts magazine is the leading trade journal for visual communications. It showcases the top work in graphic design, advertising, illustration, photography and interactive design.
Since 1959, more graphic designers, art directors, creative directors, commercial photographers and illustrators have turned to Communication Arts for ideas and inspiration than to any other creative publication. What makes Communication Arts so special?
Our unique combination of respected juried Annuals, in-depth profiles in our multi-topic issues and numerous informative columns makes Communication Arts the premier publication to cover all aspects of visual communications.
Digital Arts
Digital Arts is the UK’s leading resource for creative professionals, both in print and online. Digital Arts addresses the needs of those within the exploding digital media market by providing relevant and forward thinking content, and by consistently running more exclusive reviews and features than any other magazine or Web site in the market.
Now in its fifth year, Digital Arts consistently delivers high-quality content, providing its professional readership with the latest news and reviews first.
Digital Arts prides itself on providing unbiased product-led information and professional advice, across all platforms and disciplines. Digital Arts uses extensive in-house lab facilities for product assays, producing top-class reviews and trustworthy lab tests.
Before & After
Before & After magazine has been sharing its practical approach to graphic design since 1990.
Because our modern world has made designers of us all (ready or not), Before & After is dedicated to making graphic design understandable, useful and even fun for everyone.
The magazine is available as a PDF or printed as other magazines.
CMYK
CMYK Magazine is where aspiring creatives showcase their talents to an industry driven by inspiration and new ways of creative problem solving.
At the same time, CMYK Magazine is where creative directors, agency principals and art buyers recruit students and recent graduates at today’s top art-design schools: art directors, copywriters, designers, photographers and illustrators.
Each issue of CMYK Magazine features as many as 100 selections from more than 80 art-design students attending over 30 of the world’s leading art-design schools, departments and workshops.
Computer Arts
Computer Arts is the one-stop shop for professional advice on creating digital art and illustrations.
Computer Arts, the world’s best-selling magazine for digital artists and designers, boasts a strong line-up of tutorials every issue, covering everything from manipulating photographs with Photoshop to creating amazing vector illustrations with Illustrator.
You’ll also find tonnes of tips and tricks for web design, typography, 3D, animation, motion graphics and multimedia. It’s the one-stop shop for professional advice.
Computer Arts Projects
Computer Arts Projects is the only magazine to give you an in-depth guide to a different creative subject every month. Computer Arts Projects is the successful monthly spin-off of Computer Arts magazine.
Each issue gives you an in-depth guide to a different creative subject, and recent issues have covered themes such as print design, web design, Photoshop, typography, packaging, creative advertising, and how to start your own design business.
Inside every edition, you’ll find great step-by-step tutorials and tips from the best digital artists in the business, showcases and profiles of up-and-coming talent and established creatives, as well as explorative features on the subject in hand.
Advanced Photoshop
Advanced Photoshop magazine is the perfect magazine for polishing up already great Photoshop skills. Aimed towards Adobe Photoshop professionals and enthusiasts, every issue prides itself on its unbeatable quality and sophisticated content.
Every month you can have the chance to develop your techniques with a bunch of creative and challenging Masterclass and Workshop tutorials. Our intention is to give you the chance to learn new tricks and fine-tune your skills.
Whether you’re a design student, an enthusiast who is considering going into the design industry full-time, or an established pro, we guarantee that there will always be something new to get your teeth into.
