PRINT PAGES, REBORN: THE COMEBACK OF MAGAZINES IN THE PHILIPPINES
Amidst endless (doom)scrolling, Filipino readers are rediscovering paper. Pass by any fully booked or national (pun intended) bookstore and you’d see that magazines are once again taking their place of prominence on display shelves. Even the occasional art, fashion, and (Negros) trade fair has their, err, fair share.
I love magazines, so this resurgence is very much welcome. But surprisingly, Gen Z is driving much of the momentum. Raised on screens, young Filipinos seem to crave the tactile, slow, curated experience of print. Glossy spreads (and centerfolds, I should add), bold typography, and analog aesthetics evoke 90s and early 00s feels, an era that Gen Z have never lived through but happily romanticize now. Yes, even cassette tapes are back, but that’s another story.
For Gen Z, a magazine may be a collectible, a style statement, or an escape from algorithm-controlled feeds. And creators are answering with limited runs and shareable designs. One such group of creators is not a group of Gen Z, but of Gen Xers who have lived through the experience of print and would naturally want to promote its revival.
SPMI or Sugarsmiles Philippines Management Inc., composed of Albert Gamboa, Benjie Torre, and Joey Montalvo, is the publisher of the award-winning coffee table book “Sugar & Smiles: The Negrense Legacy Beyond 2020”. They have since ventured into magazines such as NIR Life, MagBoracay, and MagSugarlandia.
Another publisher, ZIPcode Studios of Tony Versoza, Albert Gamboa, and Lloyd Tronco, churns out POB1210 and SCT1103 magazines every quarter.
With this resurgence, my hope is that print will never go out of style. Print may never regain its old dominance, but its second life feels refreshingly new.
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