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It’s about paper, not print: indie approaches within large publishing houses

Flow magazine founder Irene Smit explains how the magazine changed hands between publishing companies, what that taught her about the pros and cons of being an indie title supported by a larger operation, and how the magazine came out of the other side of those transitions stronger for it.

Great ideas arise from the most unlikely of places. For Flow Magazine, some of that inspiration came from – of all things – children’s books.

Founder and creative director Irene Smit says that the sheer joy of experiencing everything from different paper textures, pop-ups and inserts wanes but never truly disappears. As a result when she began considering Flow as a concept, she bought a box with various paper weights, textures, and more, to consider how that might be incorporated into a modern magazine venture.

It builds upon a philosophy she developed at Netherlands-based publisher Sanoma where she began thinking about what authenticity looks like – in publishing and in everyday life. So, when Flow was launched in earnest in 2008, it was with a deliberate paper vs. ‘print’ mentality. 

She says: “We just thought, ‘well, let’s make this magazine we want to read with poems and lots of paper presents and everything we liked ourselves’… a little bit of philosophy, a little bit of mindfulness, illustrations…”

Put simply, it is the difference between simply printing information on a page – no matter how beautifully – and thinking about the actual experience of creating a meaningful reading experience.

Papers, please

That philosophy proved to be well-founded. Within two short years enough readers had discovered the untranslated version of Flow at airports to justify risking an English-language version. After winning an in-house prize of 5000 Euros, the team did exactly that, albeit with a rough-and-ready approach to translation. Despite that, the mixed-material and mindful approach to magazine production found an international audience.

Smit explains: “[The magazines] are all divided in three sections, and every section has another paper, because that is the philosophical message. [For example] if you are on the [section] about beautiful lives and beautiful illustrations, things that make you happy, the paper is shiny, glossy, smooth. 

“When it’s a bit more difficult, articles about perfectionism or things that can be a bit rough in your life, then the paper is also a bit rough and not so smooth. [The] feeling of the paper shows you, ‘okay, I’m in another section’.”

It is fair to say that it is an unconventional approach to magazine making, with a final product that can not currently be replicated in any other medium. The feel and the look of a digital screen cannot communicate those sensations. It leans into the print-as-an-experience approach many luxury magazines take – but goes much further than most.

It is an experimental approach. So too, though, was its development and ultimate publishing strategy. 

Indie mentality, media synergy

Smit notes that one of the key lessons she wishes to communicate to anyone with a similar approach to innovating in magazine publishing is that being ‘indie’ is a mentality. Moreover, it is a mentality that can be achieved within a larger publishing house, if you accept that there will be some friction. She says: “[DPG Media] was mostly a newspaper organisation, and they bought all [Sanoma’s] magazines. They were very big, and they said ‘OK, we want to focus on the big brands, and we want to make it all clear and structured’. 

“But Flow was never clear of structure, [it had] a structure that was sort of messy and difficult.”

Ultimately, the needs of the wider business meant that Flow had to give up its English-language edition.

That lack of gears fully connecting will probably sound similar to many of us who have tried to launch titles or sub-brands under the aegis of a larger organisation. Smit points out, though, that there are undeniable benefits to doing so. For one thing, larger media businesses already have dedicated sales and marketing divisions, which allows the creative team of the magazine to focus on just that – the creative.

She explains: “We were happy that we had a production department and people that could negotiate contract deals and paper deals. I think that worked very well, especially in the first years. We totally focused on the creative part.”

“So it helps… not being responsible for every part of production, paper conflicts, licences… I think it’s a good idea, if you can find a publisher to do that.”

Room to grow

Happily, when DPG underwent an audit of its titles, it gave the Flow team an opportunity to decamp to pastures new. The title was acquired by the Belgian publisher and broadcaster Roularta, which – among other benefits – has its own printing setup. Smit notes that moving to a company that understood the appeal of the title allowed it to rediscover its identity and experiment:

“So they sold us to a smaller publishing house, and that was very attractive for us, because here it is so much more possible for a smaller brand to do something different than the rest.

The first day I came in I said, ‘can I bring back the English issue, please?’ And I kept saying that in every meeting I joined for about three months, and then they said, ‘OK, go do that. Bring back your English edition if you feel that’s interesting’. So that’s great here. There’s so much freedom.”

It is a success story of making an indie mentality work within a larger media business, to the benefit of both. In the end, though, it all comes back to considering what an audience wants from a print title. Smit says that, in the age of the glued-to-your-hand mobile device, it is all too easy to just sit and scroll for hours – but that clever print titles provide a welcome alternative: 

“It’s such a different feeling than spending an hour with tea and chocolates on the couch with a magazine. That’s the best feeling. You have the smell and the taste, and you use all your senses. And I think that’s the secret of print. That’s also why it will never go away.”

Irene Smit, co-founder of Flow Magazine, is speaking at the upcoming Magazine Street 2025 conference in Glasgow. Find out more about her presentation and the other fantastic speakers here, and use the code MV75 for £75 off tickets.

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