Tim Lindacher and Steffen Hotel create a magazine for Yung Hurn in just four days

A little while ago we wrote simultaneously about two great friends and even greater designers, Tim Lindacher and Steffen Hotel. The pair were still studying at the time, jumping between solo projects and collaborating together, but a new project, 1220, sees them build on their individual strengths and make a magazine together.

1220, a fascinating mag in its own right, is actually a special add-on release in an album bundle for Vienna-based artist Yung Hurn’s debut record of the same name. Tim and Steffen took on the role of graphic designers, collaborating closely with Yung as creative director. Made in just four days, the pair were “locked in the office of his label Live From Earth from dusk until dawn,” they tell It’s Nice That, “the project was conceived, texts were written, and designs were created".

Working closely with Yung in such a short space of time means 1220 is sporadic, graphically and editorially. Its design aesthetic is like one of those great conversations with a collaborator, where you excitedly talk faster and faster about influences and what the possibilities are. As a result, the publication doesn’t appear to be bound by a structure or certain rules, but with two graphic designers at the helm, it obviously does have some in place.

“The creative process defined the final product,” Tim and Steffen begin to explain. “Text lines were first arranged in collages, and then drawn on by Yung Hurn, after that they were scanned and processed further.” Utilising Yung’s voice within the magazine is the general tone of 1220 but with no “contextual anchor” it follows a “raw cross-section through Hurn’s creative approach”. Pulling from Yung’s creative friendship group, it also features a number of guest artworks moving across fashion and art, with contributions giving “the final product a relevance in a variety of contemporary scenes”.

Tim and Steffen’s graphic design flair appears in the details of the publication, such as the two different paper types alternating every 16th page – typographically-led pages only appear on coated paper and photography is only portrayed on uncoated recycling paper. “The impulsive and free modus operandi which Yung Hurn bestows in his music is reflected in this magazine, thereby generating a unique design concept.” But a lot of fun is to be had too, from paintings to horoscopes, crossword puzzles, poetry, recipes and a colour-by-numbers section too.