Applied Arts magazine marks 30 years with new designers, logo and tagline

The redoubtable Applied Arts magazine is celebrating 30 years of publishing with a new design, a new logo and a new tagline, but with the vision of its founder, Georges Haroutiun, intact. The anniversary issue is in the mail now and the design of the has been taken over by Emily Tu and Edmond Ng of the Toronto-based studio Tung. As the magazine's blog reports, they represent the future of design in Canada, the kind that Haroutiun has championed for three decades:

"They approached our magazine with the same careful consideration that Georges did — those of you familiar with the early days of Applied Arts will see a homage in the redesign, from some of the typographic treatments (including our brand-new masthead!) to the strong editorial sensibility.

"We also have a new tagline! Create. Celebrate. speaks exactly to what we do at Applied Arts, and that is to recognize and promote the work that our creative audience makes. Our content is still very much focused on Canadian talent, but this new tagline speaks to our broader international audience.

Of particular interest in the new issue will be its look back by a variety of creative professionals at the ways in which the business -- including magazine design -- has changed in the past 30 years. Photographer George Simhoni of Westside Studio, for instance, reflects on how, in 1986, photography was still analogue and involved camera, file, processing, dye-transfer, retouching and so on and setups often took days to complete.

"Thirty years later, and the whole process is now so much more immediate. Everything is digital. As we shoot the different plates necessary in creating the finished image, it’s possible to compose them before we leave the shoot! I can do so much more now as part of my craft. It’s mind-blowing."