Once a month we invite our member magazine publishers and enthusiasts to guest-edit our email newsletter. The aim is to inspire others with magazine-related content, connect members and build our community so we can learn from each other.
This month our guest editor is Kimberley Rumble Nugent, Magazine Art Director and Fashion Communications Lecturer. You can follow Kimberley on LinkedIn and Instagram – remember to connect and say hello!
Tell us about yourself
My name is Kimberley and I’m a magazine Art Director and a University Lecturer in Fashion Communications. I’ve also recently founded a business called Blue Moon Editions – I create bespoke wedding magazines as a modern alternative to the traditional photo album. They are really luxurious coffee table magazines with personalised wording such as vows, readings, speeches and more from the day. I’m absolutely loving taking my Editions to wedding fairs and seeing couple’s reactions. It’s been great to get in front of people to show them, as opposed to relying on social media!
What’s on your mind?
I’ve just finished working on the festive issue of Hood magazine, a Scottish fashion and lifestyle magazine that I design, edited by Emma Miller. I’m thinking ahead to next year, as we’ve got some big plans in the pipeline for developing the Hood brand in 2026, that I’m really looking forward to!
Besides that, I’m working with my students on projects that predict the future of fashion in terms of communications. So we’ve been exploring what visual comms might look like in 10 years time, with regards to certain technological shifts – AI, sustainability, augmented reality, digital fashion etc. It’s made me think a lot about how we might see and experience design in the coming years.
What’s the best article you’ve
read this month?
This article. I met Meg McWilliam at an event run by Unique Magazines recently. We were both speaking on a panel, discussing the topic ‘Print Is Not Dead’. She did a talk all about her indie mag, Radge and I loved it. I followed her on Instagram and came across this article she did recently for Dazed.
Being from the North East myself, I absolutely love seeing other local creatives getting the recognition they deserve. Most of us fall into the trap of thinking you need to be in a big city to succeed (I’m guilty of it myself, living in London for 8 years).
I love how open and honest Meg is, but also how passionate and determined she is to challenge the narrative surrounding the working class, females, queer people and so much more.
Show us an incredible magazine cover
As an Art Director, this question is EXTREMELY hard. There are so many brilliant covers that have inspired me a lot in my career. But if I have to pick one, I always go back to The Guardian Weekend cover featuring the Spice Girls. It was shot by Nigel Shafran in 1997 and shows only their feet, plus a lot of white space.
What an extremely brave thing to do, to make that decision.
But it’s one that works so effectively, as everyone in the world instantly knows who they are looking at, just from the styling of their bottom half. To have most of the cover depicting an empty floor shows how truly big the Spice Girls were at that time. I love the conviction and guts to go with an idea like that. And the coverline “The world at their feet” just adds a lovely cherry on top. I love it.
What’s your top tip for publishers?
Keep the maker mindset.
As magazine publishers, it’s easy to get caught up in logistics, deadlines and algorithms. But we’ve found that the most authentic growth happens when you think like a maker – starting from passion, focusing on process, staying curious, and letting your community shape your evolution.
there is so much noise. Social media, AI, non-stop scrolling…that’s where simple but effective design can cut through. A clear but arresting image can take your focus away from the noise and make you stop and think.
You also don’t have to give everything away all at once. I love when there’s a subtlety to design – something that grabs your attention, but leaves you wanting to find out more. If there’s two magazines in front of me, one with a busy cover packed with 10 coverlines telling me everything I can expect to find inside, and then a second, with a really simple but striking image, and a couple of subtle, thought-provoking words – I’m picking up the second one every time. There’s a real confidence in not giving away too much.
Questions for the community
What subject or issue would you like the International Magazine Centre Members Group to discuss and untangle over on LinkedIn?
My question is: Where are you discovering new magazines these days? With the decline in newsagents and stores like WH Smith, are the days of casual browsing in shops over? What is your source for finding new, exciting publications now?
Need more of this in your life?
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