Unfortunately, due to a printing mishap, we were one of the 2% at Expozine this year who didn’t manage to get their title out for the event. We were there yesterday nonetheless, hawking Issue 8 and a few other wares. Over the course of the day my depression about not getting Issue 9 out transformed into acceptance, then contenment at how amazing this event is and how many great zinesters and cultural producers were in attendance. A great vibe.

We’ll be there again today, and we hope to see you there. Later, I’ll be writing a short recap about all the stuff that drew my eye (and there’s plenty!) and we’ll be planning an extra-big launch for Issue 9 when it does come out to make up for our little slip-up. Stay tuned…

Four Minutes to Midnight issues 1 through 5 were created as part of my MA thesis at the London College of Printing in 2004. The ideas behind them and the desire to create a design magazine had been running through my head for many years before (often in frenzied dialogue with John), and the MA provided the perfect opportunity for me to realise them. They were created in a very limited edition (though available for free as printable pdfs) and released over the span of three hectic months.

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After months of work and 2 weeks of pure design Hell, the ninth (can you believe it!?) issue of Four Minutes to Midnight has just been sent off to Lovell Litho in Old Montreal for printing. Barring any horrible printing accidents, we’ll have the zines in our hands by the 23rd, a day before Expozine! We’re really happy with this issue and all the amazing contributions we received from a really diverse (and generous) group of writers and artists. I’ll be posting full details soon, as well as creating entries for all the previous issues and other selected design work I’ve been doing over the years.

Artwork by tomato for the forthcoming Underworld album. Gorgeous work.
Much more here…

Originally published February 5 2003

Josh On is an interactive designer working at Futurefarmers and the author of the acclaimed theyrule.net, an interactive mapping application that reveals the interconnections between the CEOs of the US’s largest corporations. I’ve always been inspired by his work, and was pleased to have the opportunity to ask him a few questions on design and social responsibility.

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