MacGuffin Magazine and The Life of Things

Finally picked up a copy of the much raved about MacGuffin magazine. I’m a bit late to this party as it’s already on №3, The Rope issue. I must say it’s pretty damn nice, lovely stock and use of illustration. I really like the large type too and almost fanzine like layouts. It’s another magazine attempting to reveal the extraordinary nature of ‘ordinary’ things, and in this issue it’s rope. It’s not done in quite the same way as Science of the Secondary but definitely has the same vibe, but not quite so Perecian in it’s approach. The writing is great and the subjects, takes and angles are diverse and intriguing — what more do you need?

Here are a small selection of spreads, as this is a hefty mag (220 pages and we are talking content not glossy ads):

If you want more, there’s a nice piece about the team over on Stack: http://www.stackmagazines.com/art-design/behind-scenes-macguffin-magazine/

and of course there’s http://macguffin.nl/

UPDATE:

Thanks to OpenCulture I now get why MacGuffin is called MacGuffin. It’s from Hitchcock and here’s his explanation:

The main thing I’ve learned over the years is that the MacGuffin is nothing. I’m convinced of this, but I find it very difficult to prove it to others. My best MacGuffin, and by that I mean the emptiest, the most nonexistent, and the most absurd, is the one we used in North by Northwest. The picture is about espionage, and the only question that’s raised in the story is to find out what the spies are after. Well, during the scene at the Chicago airport, the Central Intelligence man explains the whole situation to Cary Grant, and Grant, referring to the James Mason character, asks, “What does he do?” The counterintelligence man replies, “Let’s just say that he’s an importer and exporter.” “But what does he sell?” “Oh, just government secrets!” is the answer. Here, you see, the MacGuffin has been boiled down to its purest expression: nothing at all!