Monthly Archives: May 2010

When you first commit to the pursuit of a creative career you barely give yourself pause to contemplate how difficult it will be. The perks seem so fantastic that you decide to overlook the irregular hours and poor pay, which are two of the inevitable downsides for those who are lucky enough to get hired through some fortunate combination of right place and right time. But ‘making it’ isn’t so easy with such ferocious competition and such a minuscule pool of jobs (all the aspiring journos I know are interviewing for the same positions in London, unbeknownst to them) so occasionally a band of pioneering creatives will join together to produce their own output. Magazines made by frustrated young talent are popping up all over the place, and the innovation and creativity they express is truly admirable.

Sketchbook is exemplary. At the magazine’s pop up shop last month the editor, Wafa Alobaidat, told me she never turns an aspiring contributor away. On average she has met five new people every day since the magazine’s launch a year ago, and the success of this creative community is evident in the quality and originality of her team’s content (read the latest issue here).

Similarly Lindsey and Claire, founders of Ballad Of, came up with the idea to help themselves and others break into the creative industry one lazy afternoon over waffles and ice cream – ‘we asked people to contribute and we were overwhelmed by the response! We are now on our third issue and have sold out in shops like The Tate, RD Franks, Rough Trade and other boutiques around London and a few in the north too! We hope Ballad Of will continue to grow and give people the exposure they need’.

The girls are currently looking for submissions on the topic ‘Don’t Forget to Write’. Get involved here.

Newly launched I Like My Style proudly proclaims it’s status as ‘The First Ever User Generated Fashion Magazine’. What began as a community blogging project has branched into print, and the team behind it describe themselves as ‘A bunch of friends from Berlin, New York, Texas, Austria and Hong Kong. Most of us have a background in media, others in fashion. We believe in thinking high and low. And in dressing up and down’.

Read the very first issue here.