Art & Design Gist Journal

Lifestyle website launches magazine despite print being dead

Manila-based lifestyle and entertainment website, GIST, recently launched the first issue of its eponymous print magazine, in the midst of widespread news reports circulated over the past 20 years that print is, indeed, dead. 

Claims of the death of print started in the late 2000s, with advertising companies reporting a decline in printing of product catalogs as more and more brands shifted to CD-ROM. Fast forward to 2020: print continues to outlive many of its predicted replacements, challenging annual announcements of its demise. Like the color black, which is always somehow being “dethroned” by a trendy new shade that’s impossible to spell, like, chartreuse, print and its legacy maintains its standing as a necessary, immortal classic. 

GIST’s print publication, #GistJournal, which its team insists on spelling with the pound sign (another thing that’s dead; it’s “hashtag” now), features musician and entrepreneur Armi Millare as its very first cover. The magazine’s editorial team calls it the Passion Issue, a nod to how legacy titles sometimes brand special issues of their publications as “Fashion Issues.” These are usually thicker and advertorial-heavy editions of titles that are always about fashion anyway. 

We asked GIST if it thinks it can resuscitate the dying print industry. “Didn’t you say it’s already dead? So is it dying or dead?” a rather combative representative from GIST’s editorial team said. The magazine’s management was unavailable for comment, as they’ve been busy minding shipping arrangements for the high volume of orders (despite print being dead), and their best-selling statement tote bag, which says, “Print has died. Print has risen. Print will come again.” The tote is patronized mostly by print fanatics, who are known to engage in suspicious behavior, such as the prolonged sniffing of newly opened magazines, extended periods of social media absence in favor of reading, and an unhealthy obsession with the Oxford comma. 

#GistJournal, is exclusively available for order online at https://gistph.com/2020/01/14/buy-gist-journal-vol-1/, to foster a symbiotic flow between the website and the print product. For information, follow GIST’s social media platforms (@gistph on IG and GistPH on Facebook). 

Here are some photos from the launch last Feb. 6, at CO Studio in Makati.

1 comment on “Lifestyle website launches magazine despite print being dead

  1. Pingback: Gist Journal x #ProjectHappiness – GIST

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