Practical and Essay - Riposte Article on Nova

Riposte is a modern, creative magazine designed for intelligent women. It covers a broad range of issues including art, design, music, business, innovation, politics, food and travel. The design is unique and contemporary, with a mixture of stocks, layouts and content, it constantly keeps the reader engaged. I will be researching this further for a case study in my essay and as a magazine example for practical work.

Issue 5 has a particular article about Nova, an outrageous and ahead of its time feminist magazine that ran from 1965-1975.

The Nova Revolution:

Nova billed itself as "the new kind of magazine for a new kind of woman". - could talk about how Riposte suggests the new kind of woman was on the rise when other sources have suggested not. Could this be because of a bias? Or does Nova have a point since it did succeed for 10 years. p92
'Nova pulled no punches; it cam brawling off the press with opinions about sex, abortion, race, religion and politics.' p92

'Their content never shied away from heavy-hitting issues. In fact, it was often more akin to the stuff of student protest pamphlets.' p92 Could talk about how the content was extreme and sometimes uncontrolled - generally good although are moving towards a more professional aesthetic now?
'Nova was always wanting to be controversial and go too far, anything to bash the status quo, the stiff upper lip of the British aristo thing.' - Caroline Baker p93

Jeremy Leslie of magCulture: 'The best magazines reflect and lead their time, and Nova did exactly that. It perfectly expressed that point in the late Sixties when consumerism and social liberation met each other. The magazine remains a touchstone for other publishers, but an attempted relaunch proved that however well thought of a project might be in industry, a name bears nothing unless the magazine delivers.' pg 92 Talk about how Nova was made for the second time but completely failed, what did it have the first time but not the second?
'A place for a magazine that was not fashion nor mumsy, but for intelligent, educated women; women who worked and had liberal ideas' Harri Peccinotti

Harri Peccinotti designed the typeface for Nova, he wanted a bold type that was not fashionable or in use. He found a version of Windsor which he proofed, redrew and made a lowercase for. p101 Talk about how they reworked the unfashionable into something 'cool'. They set trends they didn't try to copy them. Is the vintage aesthetic still relevant today? Could I look at old fashioned typefaces for the magazine made for the practical?

'The scandal it courted, the taboos it pushed and the huge style it brought to art direction and editorial makes the original Nova one of the industry's best-loved idols.' p101

Simon Esterson has said that the Hackett/Peccinotti had big headline type, big grainy pictures, white space, conceptual covers and longform jounralism. The Gillian Cooke/David Hillman years had sexy, liberated, colour-drenched fashion shoots contrasted with black-and-white reportage photography and feature journalism. 'Looking back at Nova's spreads makes many magazines published today look timid and predictable. Maybe that, not the digital revolution, is the real change.' p101 Could talk about the aesthetic was confident and bold, despite the clashes and the low quality it was loud and held people's attention. Is this what the digital side of feminism lacks? Is the visual rhetoric too safe?