Posters - Emigre Magazine 1984 - 2005

Emigre Magazine was an alternative-culture graphic design publication launched in 1984 to 2005 by Rudy VanderLans and Zuzana Licko, styling itself as "the magazine that ignores boundaries." It boldly challenged conventional rules of layout and legibility while making pioneering use of digital technology — particularly the newly introduced Apple Macintosh. Licko, one of the first type designers to explore the computer's creative potential, developed distinctive coarse bitmapped fonts that expressed an entirely new digital aesthetic, which became a defining visual signature of the magazine throughout its run. Victoria and Albert Museum Posters were an integral part of Emigre's identity and output. The magazine produced a wide range of promotional and type specimen posters, typically measuring 22.5 x 32.75 inches and offset printed, often on uncoated stock. Many issues included posters stapled into the center as pull-outs — for example, issue #15 featured a poster titled "Do You Read Me?" stapled into its center, and issue #20 included two posters by designers Robert Nakata and Allen Hori. These posters served not only as promotional tools but as design artifacts in their own right, showcasing experimental typography and the boundary-pushing visual language that made Emigre one of the most influential design publications of its era.