Shoplifters: Actual Source's latest mag is a must have for visual communicators

For graphic and illustration fanatics the latest issue of Actual Source’s Shoplifters magazine is a must have. The biannual magazine pulls together a roster of names we love, OK-RM, Girls Like Us, Mirko Borsche and Stefan Marx to name just a few, and is thoughtfully designed to highlight the genius of their work.

The publication has continuously celebrated the work of “contemporary artists, writers, type designers, photographs and illustrators,” says Actual Source. “Shoplifters doesn’t have a single identity, it’s size, paper, typography, and tone changes each it’s published.” As a result, you never know the physical form that an issue may take, but what is guaranteed is a wealth of inspiration through boundary pushing work.

“We’ve always loved printing images of books in our books so issue six focuses on artists, designers and writers who use publishing as a main medium in their work,” says JP Haynie, Actual Source’s creative director and partner. “Whether they’re designers like OK-RM who have their own imprint, an artist like Stefan Marx who has put out more than 65 books of his own, or a magazine like Girls Like Us who use their publication as a form of feminist activism, it all fits into a loose narrative based around publication.”

Split up into interviews with creatives and representations of their work, Shoplifters is mostly printed in a dark blue, even toning the initial work featured to match the overall hue of the magazine. After the interview, pages of their work in full colour on a black pages follow, letting the celebrated work sing. At the top of the pages, Actual Source has also put an index of what pages feature the interview and images, so you can even flick straight through to your preferred option. This issue additionally features a new, previously unreleased typeface by “living legend” Laurenz Brunner, titled Bradford.