Young Ones in Magazines

Petrea Dickinson and Katarina Matic are the creative pair behind The Young Ones, an independent magazine championing Melbourne’s design community. To celebrate the much anticipated launch of Edition Two, we asked a few questions about starting a business, juggling a start up around day jobs, maintaining momentum and why print is still important.

What was the ‘let’s go for it’ moment of starting The Young Ones?

We met whilst studying graphic design at RMIT, having both arrived upon graphic design as a second career of sorts. Having worked in unrelated sectors (politics and commercial law are about as far away as you can get from creative industry!) we approached our studies with the kind of gusto typically exhibited by ‘mature age’ students (we hate that term). We were so curious about the industry that we were entering. In particular, we were intrigued as to how to achieve ‘success’ in this new field – it seemed like the conventional career path of studying and then heading straight into industry was no longer a viable option – jobs were few and far between, and many design graduates were settling on unpaid internships just to get a foot in the door. There was a real disconnect between the passion for design and the professional reality.

The ‘let’s go for it’ moment came at a design conference, a very apt place to have a moment of clarity! We were itching to do something – after all, we were not used to having so much free time as we did at university – and hearing other creatives talk about how a non conventional career path allowed them to balance their passion for design with a sustainable career really hit home. Universities were still pushing the conventional career model as the ‘end goal’ and there was really no available tangible resource for students hoping to veer off this course. We wanted to change that, and thought if we were desperate for this information, maybe others were too.

Why have you pursued print above a digital platform?

We often get asked this question. Print is so important to us as designers, but it has become a luxury. Printing locally is expensive, but the quality and finish makes it all worthwhile. We feel a responsibility to our creative industry to support and foster the local print industry. The print and the creative industries are so intimately connected that support is integral for the continued success of both. We are so proud continue our great relationship with Impact Digital in Brunswick, and also to have welcome a partnership with custom embellishment specialist, Matte Gold.

That being said, we will release back issues of TYO in digital format at some point in the future but print will be our primary mode of production for as long as we are able to sustain it.

Starting a magazine is a work intensive, expensive pursuit. What have you found as the biggest challenge of pulling it together?

It is a particularly intensive and expensive pursuit, but we love it. That being said, there have been many steep learning curves – mostly in respect of gaps in our existing skillset. Management of budgets and projections have been an uphill battle at times, as well as general business management. There often feels like there are just not enough hours in the day.

Did you find lessons from the first edition you’ve applied to the second?

Absolutely. With Issue One, we had the luxury of still being students and accordingly, having lots of time to dedicate to production. Not the case with Issue Two – we now work full time – and time is precious. We’ve had to reassess our processes, our goals and our time management – in short, we’ve had to start operating like a business. Refining our budgets, sales forecasts, pricing and production costs have all been part of that, as well as future planning. There have been some hard but necessary lessons to learn.

The magazine has highlighted a disconnect between the passion for design and the professional reality. Would you advocate for either agency or freelance work?

It really depends on the individual and their personality. We both work as designers within a studio & agency at present, and we love the creative freedom that comes with maintaining TYO outside of our daily practise. The unfortunate part for us designers is that you never really stop working; you can’t just switch off being creative or suddenly stop generating ideas. But it is a double edged sword, designers also can’t just generate a design on cue or within the hours of 9am – 5pm. It comes down to how you work best – perhaps this is in an environment that promotes collaboration via colleagues, or maybe this is in your own time and space.

Edition Two focuses on Australians working abroad. How important do you see overseas experience being for young creatives? Melbourne has a strong design community, is it too competitive to find work here? Is working abroad a necessity?

Good question! The answer to that is really what we sought to find out with our Issue Two – we too were perplexed as to whether overseas experience is a necessity, for a variety of reasons. It was really important to us to start this conversation and we have unearthed some really great perspectives.

Generally speaking, travel is a really important and valuable experience for creatives. It is vital to maintaining clarity and openness to creative challenges. Travel introduces solutions to navigate beyond your local practice and method. So whether you are traveling for business or pleasure, it is always going to add something to your creative practice, which is great!

In terms of the necessity of overseas experience for career advancement, we’re on the fence. Because of our size and proximity, Australian industry often cannot offer the same opportunity for creatives as those abroad. That being said, if you are a great designer you’ll have no shortage of work no matter where you are based.

What is apparent from our Issue Two how proud our creatives were to identify as Australian. Australia is such a hotbed of design and creativity, but there needs to be an investment made in educating people on the value of creative industry. There could be a lot more respect for creative industry than there is currently, and is just one factor that is perhaps driving our biggest and brightest talent overseas. We can learn a lot from that.

The profiles in the magazine often uncover some highly unconventional career paths. What advice would you give to those just leaving school on how to forge a successful creative career?

Do what you are passionate about and take risks! Almost anyone that has done anything even vaguely remarkable has taken a massive risk in doing so. No risk, no reward.

Did you have other magazines that inspired The Young Ones?

We have so many magazines! We always turn to local publications like MADE and Offscreen for inspiration, and international titles such as Riposte, The Gentlewoman and It’s Nice That. We were lucky enough to get chatting to the editors of The Gourmand at the London Design Festival last year, so that title is another favourite. Don’t get us started, we could go on for days!

Both yourself and co-founder Katarina Matic manage the magazine around full time work, where do you find the time and how do you manage to find a balance?

We both work full time as designers, and manage TYO in our spare time which is often limited and in short bursts. We don’t have a great work life balance according to our partners! Most of that can be attributed to fast growth of TYO – we were not perhaps as prepared as we could have been for the reality that was selling out, reprinting and running a small business, but we love TYO and work hard to make sure that it never feels like a chore.

For Issue Two, we bit the bullet and called in our lovely friend and colleague, designer Laura McLean, for some extra muscle which has been invaluable. Having another person there to assist with a growing number of queries, sales and events has really given us all some breathing room to give proper attention to editorial and design.

We also work with an amazing group of people – our printers, finishing specialists, photographers, writers and copyeditors – that help us create each issue. If we cannot do something ourselves, we are not shy in turning to the best in the business to help us out – they help get us over the line each and every time.

Where can we buy a copy of The Young Ones Edition Two?

Jump online at theyoungonesmagazine.com (free shipping Australia wide), or visit one of our lovely stockists – Happy Valley (Collingwood, VIC) and Kunstler (Fortitude Valley, QLD).