Good Reads: Courier, Glory and Sketcheasy

Our latest round up of nice things to read includes a renewed version of Courier, a mag about football and a guerilla zine from Leeds

Courier

Courier is a magazine about modern business and start up culture, but the way it’s designed places it within the indie art magazine space. This was intentional, says Jeff Taylor, Publisher and Co-founder: “We decided early on to ignore the regular media narrative that surrounds modern business with its obsession on teenage billionaires, tech superstars and the outdated tones of media properties like Dragon’s Den and The Apprentice. Instead, we sought to bring a progressive consumer design sensibility to business. We felt Courier should be able to sit alongside titles like Kinfolk and Suitcase rather than the more traditional technology and business titles on the newsstand.” 

The magazine is filled with original photography and illustration. The content is equally compelling: the current issue features an interview with Nick Jones Founder of Soho House, takes you inside the Deliveroo kitchen, profiles a range of interesting new businesses, looks at how commercial artists are using Instagram and features a photo story about ping pong in Tokyo. You don’t have to be a business owner or budding entrepreneur to be inspired by the stories in Courier.

Though in circulation for about five years now, Courier was initially a free magazine available at select coffee shops. It has been relaunched this month, this time with a price tag. “Moving to paid global distribution is simply a way to reach a much larger audience and to deliver them more of what they like about Courier” Taylor explains. “[While the ethos and the kind of content stays the same] our new format allows us to tell more stories, in more depth, from an increasing number of destinations around the world.”

couriermedia.co

Glory

Glory is a magazine about football – but focuses on what the game looks like away from the multimillion pound contracts and high-profile players. Each issue is devoted to a different country exploring local clubs, traditions and more. The first three issues have taken readers to the Faroe Islands, Kosovo & Sweden.

Head of Copy Louis Rossi says: “We try to cut through all the negative aspects of the modern sport and explore what makes the beautiful game beautiful. And our single destination focus with lots of travel and culture related content means we can have a broader appeal, too.”

While a bulk of the content is about local football culture, you’ll also learn about where to stay, what to eat or drink and even local fashion. The imagery is particularly beautiful and you can buy prints of featured photographs on Glory’s online store.

Glory is an independent magazine, founded by Ryan Mason (Head of Photography), Lee Nash (Head of Design) & Louis Rossi (Head of Copy).

glorymag.co.uk 

Sketcheasy

Sketcheasy is a “guerilla” newspaper created by a pair of twins, Abigail and Chloe Baldwin, who jointly run a design studio called Buttercrumble in Leeds.

Zines are printed and delivered to locations around the city. “We wanted the paper to be accessible at all and ‘discovered’ rather than bought. By keeping the newspaper free, we were able to distribute it in ‘secret’ locations around the city in order for people to find them,” explain the pair. “They are limited edition and each paper is individually numbered to add a little extra magic.”

Sketcheasy is full of “confessions from creatives” – interviews with a range of people from copywriters to videographers who discuss the challenges of working in the creative industries.

The project was supposed to be a one-off but you never know when you’ll chance upon a copy when wandering around Leeds.

buttercrumble.com