Somewhere between a magazine and a zine lies Dialogue, a new print project created by Ben Cochran, a communication arts student at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Somewhere between a magazine and a zine lies Dialogue, a new print project created by Ben Cochran, a communication arts student at Virginia Commonwealth University.
“Dialogue came out as an Independent study project. One of my professors was an art director at Virginia Living [Magazine] so I was like : ‘Hey, could you guide me through the process of this?’ it turned out to be pretty awesome since I was paying out of the pocket for this and I also got credit,” Cochran said.
Fueling the project entirely on his own, Cochran has achieved quite a feat as the magazine dons a aura of solidarity through its pages. With synchronic images that display young artists and entrepreneurs, type sets that evoke a clean urban appeal, and stories written by Cochran himself, the discourse of Dialogue holds dreamy yet refined contexts for its readers.
“I’ve learned that budgeting is a big thing, and the printing process itself from the computer screen to print is not at all what you expect. I am happy about the writing content with the project, but the design was a huge focus; typography,body type”.
The printed work within Dialogue slings ink on its quality paper on the ideas of self-invention in its very first issue as it explores creative establishments like Eastern Land Collective, CRUDCITY, and artist collectives like Satellite Syndicate within the Richmond area.
Utilizing the self-publishing model to project the essence of Richmond culture woven by self-invention, this amalgam created by Cochran is merely the zygote of a fine culture rag in the making for our area– especially in the realm of print.
Print media, though sparse, seems to be one of the only forms of media that you can touch and hold onto– something that Cochran understands.
“There’s this idea that print is premium now… Newspapers and traditional forms of print media are considered to be dying, and people have been saying that for a long time but for some reason print media is still around. And it is the idea of print dying, that now, people are willing to pay more for print media or treat it as a piece of art,” Cochran said. “Which means that for people who want to make printed work there’s a reason and pressure to make something beautiful, presentable, and respectful.”
Self-publication (especially with print) is an ever changing industry (believe it or not) in contemporary times as artists and collectives now seem to do more than just utilize social networks and collaborate in shows–they’re clustering together as a community to help each other thrive from all outlets.
Dialogue’s limited distribution by Cochran looks to be a promising and transposing form of print media for our area and we’re sure the next issue will be just as well produced and cohesively mesmerizing.
However, Cochran is looking for other artists, particularly writers, to contribute to his project as he is more capable with the design side of the Dialogue project.
“What I mostly need are writers and people to help me put together the content. I’m enjoying the design side of things but I struggle a bit with the writing.”
So, if you’re interested in the latest issue of Dialogue, or at giving Ben Cochran a few words, be sure to contact dialoguerichmond@gmail.com for more information.
