Commentary

Exit Interview: David Skokna

Exit Interview: David SkoknaWhen MEDIA first began using guest editors to set the theme, tone, look and content of each edition, we weren't sure what we were getting into. Some, like professional editor Bob Guccione Jr. (who taught us that sometimes what doesn't get into an issue is as important as what does), took an especially active role, micromanaging the content the way any great consumer magazine editor might. Others, like industry visionaries Alex Bogusky and Dale Herigstad, were a little less hands-on (though no less involved). So, we weren't quite prepared for someone like David Skokna, the founder and creative chief at Huge, who is not a professional editor, but took the assignment as seriously, and in the process, challenged the in-house MEDIA team on ideas, executions, and well, our own editorial judgment.

Why did you agree to guest edit this issue?
I was proud to be able to. But it was a really new thing for me. I've never edited a magazine before. It was all about figuring out the storytelling, the narrative of the issue. It was also about asking, how is it for someone like me, who grew in digital and understands it really well -- how is it to switch the medium, to flip sides? Because usually we are the ones teaching people from print how to evolve digitally, but for me, it was interesting to be on the other side and figure out all the nuances of actually doing a large print project. I have to say it's a completely different way of thinking. It really added to my experience, and I'm positive it will change the way I approach content.

You studied print in school, but have specialized in digital. How would you compare the experience of designing for a magazine to designing for online?
What's fascinating with print is that it's so precise -- and so final. There's an end to it. The thing with Web work is it never ends. You can update endlessly. One thing I enjoyed about working with this issue is the level of control you have. Unlike the Web, when you finish something it just carts and opens up: community and dialogue begins. It's a very different feel between the two mediums. But I have to say, it was extremely fun, being back in print.

What do you wish we or you had done different?
I would have liked to play more with paper stock and things of that nature. Nothing gimmicky like foldouts or gateways. But print is a tactile thing, and not something that we [at Huge] get to play with often.

The photos in the layout that Huge did on the New Hoarders on page 20, clearly raise concerns about the massive over-consumption we, as a culture, have long engaged in. In selecting those images for an article in an issue about the future of media and not addressing or glossing over those concerns are you tacitly endorsing that behavior?
What's funny about that is it's a little bit of a warning sign. We just took them as an example of really beautifully shot photography, but if you took any of us and put all our shit in front of a camera, all of us would be surprised at how much material wealth is displayed. It was kind of a shock that in a simple picture you can see how much these kids have. Sometimes it's actually very, very disturbing.

And it absolutely wasn't about saying, "Do this." It was just about exposing the world that new generations will live in and the amount of consumption. And also it talks about not necessarily material consumption, but consumption in general, like content and text messages, and anything they touch will be ten times more than all of us are doing.

You have every reason and right to think a great deal of your shop, but were you concerned by proposing we run an illustrated map with a headline that declares "Where the talent is," over three cities with Huge offices in them you were being outright self promotional?
We didn't feel like that putting it together, of course. But I can see your point of view and don't disagree with not running it.

Why focus on consumers?
I really think change comes from consumers, and that's something that I strongly believe. Technology is enabling change; consumers are the ones demanding it. I imagined this issue to be a guide for change in the future of media. Because media itself does not change; it reacts to what they are wanting. From my point of view, no big brands understand this whole next generation of consumers. They may understand how to market to them, but they don't understand what they are doing online and how they are actually changing everything they touch.

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