Studio 8

"We're currently halfway through designing the third issue of Plastique magazine," says Matt Willey of Studio 8 Design. "It's unusual for us. All the other mags we work on are art, literary or cultural - stuff we're interested in. Plastique is slightly odd as it's not content I really care about. I eventually agreed to it, as long as we could do whatever we wanted."

It's a strong indication of the studio's integrity that the publishers of Plastique - a quarterly fashion magazine - should not only offer them the job, but also be perfectly happy to allow them free reign with it. But then Willey and fellow co-founder Zo Bather have earned it, having specialised in a diverse portfolio of print design projects for three years in their current incarnation. "Plastique's design is immediate, and visceral, and plays around with typography," Willey continues. "This is a rare opportunity. The inspiration was the first magazine I did with Vince Frost, called Zembla, which didn't have any stylesheets and completely ignored the grids. Lots of magazines are too templated and can be designed somewhat lazily, due to time restraints, making them look really uninteresting. Plastique magazine is fairly free with no rules, which means it's difficult because with each spread you have to start again - because of this it's much more hard work."

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