Nick Logan was hugely inspirational to me growing up as evidenced by my massive The Face collection that’s in storage somewhere in Dubai.

The Guardian’s Media Talk caught up with him recently and it’s cool to listen to what it was like to launch Smash Hits etc and especially the DIY start of The Face. Nick ‘didn’t know why the upper classes’ Tatler should have glossy paper and the ‘rest of us’ shouldn’t‘.

Download the Guardian’s Media Talk Extra podcast.

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I can’t think of a new magazine since Wallpaper** that has had the kind of impact of Nick’s titles (or Dazed&Confused, Vice, WIRED etc) and I can’t imagine it ever happening in print again.

Not say no new media title has had style / pop / culture impact since 1996, but they’ve been blogs / websites / email lists etc: SuperFuture, The Sartorialist, Go Fug Yourself, Pitchfork Media, DailyCandy, CoolHunting, Earplug etc. Even taken together these may not have had the impact of a magazine launched in every WH Smith around the UK. Although the net lends itself to decentralization, there is no reason why a cultural digital media brand can’t have wider resonance.

The next Face will be produced in participatory real-time via multi-digital-media-mobile-social-web-kindle-iphone platforms. Its aesthetic will reflect the new media possibilities rather than the dead tree past.

Another Guardian piece has Nick reflecting on the closing of one of the other magazines he started: Arena.

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