Surf Magazines
Surf magazines are extremely popular and perpetuate the surfing lifestyle particularly for the youth market. Although the magazine media does cater for all market segments within surf culture.
There are magazines aimed at teenage males that use images of beautiful young women surfers. Other surf magazines cater for the slightly older 'soul surfer' with a more nostalgic flavour (a soul surfer is a surfer that essentially lives to surf and tends to live or camp by the sea and surfs whenever possible). There's the more recent addition of surf magazines aimed at women. And more recently, the more surf culture orientated magazines, converging surf, life, style, fashion, art, music and more.
The very first surf magazine, was a publication called 'The Surfer' in 1959, from a man named John Severson. The publication was a small book of photos taken largely from his recent surf film 'Surf Fever'. Severson's book of photos was very popular, and it evolved into a quarterly magazine. Its subsequent success spawned many more magazines in the ensuing years. The Surfer still remains one of the biggest and best surf magazines around even today, though it is now called 'Surfer'.
It was magazines like 'The Surfer' that helped to accelerate the growth of interest and development in surfing in the early 60's. They made the sport visible to an audience all over the world.
Surfing magazines created a new breed of photographer, the 'surf photographer'. Suddenly more and more photographers took to the trade, which attracted more eccentric surfing from some of the world's best surfers, all competing for exposure in these popular magazines, and so surfing heroes were born. And all this of course, predictably, led to advertisers becoming interested, and the rest is history.
Content wise, surf magazines are heavily visual based. Lots of full-page images of surfers, beautiful landscapes, board babes, athletic male surfers (etc...). Then there are the masses of advertisements that come with any magazine. Interviews with professional surfers, surf enthusiasts and people in the industry, profiling their lifestyles, selling the surfers lifestyle (and surf culture) to a captive audience!
Surf magazines aimed at a more mature audience, focus on a broader set of issues surrounding surfing, anything from the environment, to discovering surf destinations in foreign uncharted lands, to articles on surf art and surf culture. There truly is a surf magazine these days for every type of surfer.
The main concentration of content in any surf magazine though is photography. Stunning photos of waves, coastlines, and surfers carving waves! This again takes us back to the power of imagery. The amazing imagery of people risking their lives doing amazing stunts on boards in waves from three to fifteen plus feet tall... its enough to impress and captivate anyone! A surf magazine could sell surf culture and the sport without even the use of words, that is the power of surf imagery!
Magazines are an advertising haven! Surf magazines are no exception. Magazines sell huge amounts of space in each issue to advertisers and brands. Surf magazines are crammed full of adverts promoting surfing equipment and accessories, travel companies, surf tournaments or events, extreme sports on television, surf brands (etc...). Another example of the mass commercialisation of surfing and surf culture! And again of how stronger hold or influence the media has over everything it manipulates.
In recent times surf related designs have really been moving with the times. Current trends in graphic design have a great affect on the appearance of surf magazines, and surf brands alike! Surfing is perceived as a cool sport and lifestyle! So it makes sense for its image to be maintained using contemporary design trends. Good examples of this in the past few years include the rise in popularity graphically of grungy, italic or calligraphic and medieval fonts and illustration. Many magazines both in the surfing world and fashion alike have been getting facelifts, modernising their content, appearance, layout and how text is read. This is a apparent in the recent years branding of Quiksilver, and also in magazines like Adrenalin, that makes use of contemporary illustrations.
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There are magazines aimed at teenage males that use images of beautiful young women surfers. Other surf magazines cater for the slightly older 'soul surfer' with a more nostalgic flavour (a soul surfer is a surfer that essentially lives to surf and tends to live or camp by the sea and surfs whenever possible). There's the more recent addition of surf magazines aimed at women. And more recently, the more surf culture orientated magazines, converging surf, life, style, fashion, art, music and more.
The very first surf magazine, was a publication called 'The Surfer' in 1959, from a man named John Severson. The publication was a small book of photos taken largely from his recent surf film 'Surf Fever'. Severson's book of photos was very popular, and it evolved into a quarterly magazine. Its subsequent success spawned many more magazines in the ensuing years. The Surfer still remains one of the biggest and best surf magazines around even today, though it is now called 'Surfer'.
It was magazines like 'The Surfer' that helped to accelerate the growth of interest and development in surfing in the early 60's. They made the sport visible to an audience all over the world.
Surfing magazines created a new breed of photographer, the 'surf photographer'. Suddenly more and more photographers took to the trade, which attracted more eccentric surfing from some of the world's best surfers, all competing for exposure in these popular magazines, and so surfing heroes were born. And all this of course, predictably, led to advertisers becoming interested, and the rest is history.
Content wise, surf magazines are heavily visual based. Lots of full-page images of surfers, beautiful landscapes, board babes, athletic male surfers (etc...). Then there are the masses of advertisements that come with any magazine. Interviews with professional surfers, surf enthusiasts and people in the industry, profiling their lifestyles, selling the surfers lifestyle (and surf culture) to a captive audience!
Surf magazines aimed at a more mature audience, focus on a broader set of issues surrounding surfing, anything from the environment, to discovering surf destinations in foreign uncharted lands, to articles on surf art and surf culture. There truly is a surf magazine these days for every type of surfer.
The main concentration of content in any surf magazine though is photography. Stunning photos of waves, coastlines, and surfers carving waves! This again takes us back to the power of imagery. The amazing imagery of people risking their lives doing amazing stunts on boards in waves from three to fifteen plus feet tall... its enough to impress and captivate anyone! A surf magazine could sell surf culture and the sport without even the use of words, that is the power of surf imagery!
Magazines are an advertising haven! Surf magazines are no exception. Magazines sell huge amounts of space in each issue to advertisers and brands. Surf magazines are crammed full of adverts promoting surfing equipment and accessories, travel companies, surf tournaments or events, extreme sports on television, surf brands (etc...). Another example of the mass commercialisation of surfing and surf culture! And again of how stronger hold or influence the media has over everything it manipulates.
In recent times surf related designs have really been moving with the times. Current trends in graphic design have a great affect on the appearance of surf magazines, and surf brands alike! Surfing is perceived as a cool sport and lifestyle! So it makes sense for its image to be maintained using contemporary design trends. Good examples of this in the past few years include the rise in popularity graphically of grungy, italic or calligraphic and medieval fonts and illustration. Many magazines both in the surfing world and fashion alike have been getting facelifts, modernising their content, appearance, layout and how text is read. This is a apparent in the recent years branding of Quiksilver, and also in magazines like Adrenalin, that makes use of contemporary illustrations.
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