Dark publication Hexus Journal's experimental design matches its texts

Date
11 June 2015

Experimental literature publications arguably have a pretty raw deal of it when it comes to first impressions. Too often they’re immediately written off as a slew of black text crammed unthinkingly into a zine format, when in fact the very genre lends itself to something a little more thoughtful. Hexus journal takes the latter form. The first issue, subtitled The New Black, was designed by Christopher Gray, who has set out a selection of experimental texts – short stories, poems and the like – in a pared-back but concise format, with bold headers interspersed with tailor-made imagery to set the mood, with chunky black borders to differentiate between sections. The journal is almost Tristram Shandy-esque in its employment of solid black pages, broken paragraphs and the occasional music stave, resulting in a publication which demands not only to be picked up, but also to be read. Cover to cover. Potentially more than once.

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Hexus Journal: Issue #1

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Hexus Journal: Issue #1

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Hexus Journal: Issue #1

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Hexus Journal: Issue #1

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Hexus Journal: Issue #1

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Hexus Journal: Issue #1

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About the Author

Maisie Skidmore

Maisie joined It’s Nice That fresh out of university in the summer of 2013 as an intern before joining full time as an Assistant Editor. Maisie left It’s Nice That in July 2015.

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