The Medium is the Message

Here’s a curiosity for those of you who predict print journalism going the way of the wooly mammoth: a magazine published in the form of post cards. Abe’s Penny, a so-called “micro-magazine,” was launched in March of this year.

Every issue is comprised of four narrative segments of text and image, each printed on a separate postcard. Subscribers receive a postcard in their mailbox every week, complete with stamp and postmark, just like in the days before e-cards. Abe’s Penny is definitely a nostalgia trip, but the idea also seems to borrow from more contemporary media. Here's how they describe it:

A postcard offers what is essentially a boiled down magazine: image and text. We like that it’s so fast and that our readers can finish a card in the time it takes to walk from their mailbox to their front door.

In the era of the soundbyte, Abe’s Penny could be the Twitter of art magazines.

(Photo by Tod Seelie and Brandon Johnson courtesy of Abe's Penny)