Turning the Page, For Real This Time

I’ve been sitting on this for a minute, trying to find the right way to say it. So I’m just going to say it.

Flava is going to print.

Paper you can hold, leave on a coffee table, bookmark for later, and pass to your cousin who claims she “doesn’t really read magazines” and then watch her get stuck on page four anyway. The internet moves too fast for a story to breathe. Print gives it room.

There’s a part of this I want to walk through with you, because I owe you the reasoning, not just the announcement.

The print pages won’t carry photos of the actors, or any character likenesses. I know that might read as a loss at first glance, especially for people used to seeing our issues drop with imagery every time. Here’s the thinking behind it. Putting someone’s face on a product and selling it is using their actual image without their permission and without a dollar reaching them. We’ve got the design background and the IP knowledge to see that line clearly. Pretending not to see it because it would’ve been easier isn’t something I’m willing to do, even for engagement.

So print gets its own identity instead. Typography built around who these characters are and what they stood for. The writing and the design carrying the weight on their own, no shortcuts.

Digital stays exactly as it is. Same imagery, same issues, same everything you already know. Print is just a new room in the same house.

We’re starting with Living Single. We’re starting with Khadijah, because before there was a brownstone full of people to love, there was a woman who crowned herself first and made the rest of the world catch up.

All hail the Queen. Printed version coming soon — I can’t wait for you to hold it.`