Friday, February 19, 2010

Paperless Press: Online Magazines



I've always been a little bit obsessed with magazines- I think it all started with my subscription to Highlights for Children when I was six. Since then, I've been a faithful reader of all kinds of magazines- first Jane and Seventeen, then Cosmo, Travel and Leisure, Bon Appétit, Vanity Fair, Real Simple, and even my college boyfriend's Maxim, to name a few. I even worked at Martha Stewart Weddings for four years after graduating college, so great was my love of the printed word (and picture).

But the last couple of years have been tough ones for magazine lovers- one of my faves Domino went under, and then Condé Nast folded the institution Gourmet and several other titles. It was chaos- there was a confetti of glossy paper falling from the sky and ink was running in the streets. I started hoarding my collection of mags, and trolling eBay for the ones I'm missing. But last fall, amid this magazine apocalypse, a bright spot, and an exciting new genre arrived on the scene: the online magazine. As someone who loves the feel and smell and dogear-ability of a physical magazine, I was skeptical at first, but these publications have won me over, and, if they haven't already, they will get you, too. First of all, they take up no space in your apartment (and therefore require no justification to your husband), they are filled with beautiful ideas, and they're free! What's not to love?

Here are the two online mags I am obsessed with right now:
Lonny, a home and shopping mag from a former Domino editor, just released it's third issue, and seeing it posted, I admit I felt that same warm rush I felt when a "real" mag arrived in my mailbox.
And Nonpareil, an online weddings mag is filled with great ideas for all kinds of parties and entertaining, comes from the girls behind the Inspired Bride and Paper Crave blogs.

I guess it's time I get with the times. Turns out even Highlights has a website.

1 comment:

tiana16 said...

i was obsessed with Highlights as well! you're right, that must be where our mag-obsessions began!