Publishing on the Periphery: Trade Design Magazines in Late 20th Century Greece

The role of magazines as records of design history is well documented in the research bibliography. This paper aims to contribute to contemporary graphic design history in Greece through the examination of trade magazine publishing. Specialised graphic design magazines first appeared in Greece in the 1990s and proliferated towards the end of the century in a market characterised by economic development and a turn towards the service sector. Acro (The Edge) (1996 – 2004) was a self-published graphic design magazine produced in Thessaloniki. It is presented here as a case study that provides insights into aspects of the development of graphic design practice in Greece during the 1990s. First, the beginning of writing and publishing about graphic design in Greece is discussed. Next, the magazine's publication is investigated as a venture indicative of the way technological advances challenged the established orthodoxies of graphic language and design practice. Finally, the magazine is approached as a record of the circulation of ideas about graphic design and dominant trends of that time in Greece. Published on the European periphery, Acro provides evidence of the strategy adopted by the local designer towards dominant design trends.