Good Reads: Waves & Woods
Waves & Woods is a new Indie-Surfmagazine from Germany. As the name suggests, surfers and the outdoors take center stage in this beautiful magazine that will be released in five issues each year in the future.
Design
The most striking feature of the magazine is its size. Somewhere between A4 and A3 it is pretty big and might not fit into every bookshelf. On the other hand its size helps to bring the beautiful photography to life and is an eye-catcher on the coffee table. In comparison to the unique format, the layout seems to be intentionally toned down to leave the oversized photographs in the spotlight. Most designed elements are minimalistic and calm. Typography and presentation might not be very unique but nevertheless aesthetically very pleasing. What I really enjoyed was the idea to have an artist on board that contributes various illustrations throughout the magazine. A nice detail that makes Waves & Woods stand out a little more and that is hopefully maintained in the next issues. Speaking of which, I found a strange pattern on the book spine and only later realized that several issues side by side form the Waves & Woods logo together.
Content
Like I mentioned above, photography takes center stage in Waves & Woods. Articles are split between interviews and contributions from guest authors and every issue features van owners and their story. Overall the magazine doesn’t have the same depth as a publication like Wilderness and carries a little too much content that I couldn’t clearly identify as sponsored or native. Furthermore I always like to have a look behind the scenes and – in order to identify with a magazine – it would be nice to learn more about the people behind it and to learn about their motivation but sadly there isn’t even an “about” section on the website.
Wrap-Up
What’s not to like about surfing and the outdoors, considering the main subjects of Waves & Woods are meeting equally the zeitgeist and my personal taste. For a fair price of 9,90€ you get a magazine with gorgeous full page images from some of the best outdoor photographers that will definitively stirr your wanderlust.