The book is the second in a series of publications developed from the archive of MA and research student dissertations held by the V&A/RCA History of Design programme and published by Manchester University Press. The theme of magazines and modern design was identified as a particular area of strength in the original research undertaken by graduates from the programme.

The emphasis of the essays is to understand magazines as designed objects in their own right. Much primary research was undertaken to investigate the particular circumstances surrounding individual titles. A second aim was to uncover the interests of the reader. Drawing on consumption studies, several essays show how interpretations of the magazine can be enhanced by locating evidence to understand readers as historical subjects. The third emphasis in the group of essays is to analyse how design ideals were particularly promoted through magazines.

Jeremy Aynsley co-wrote the introductory essay that reflects on the challenges facing the historian of the magazine. His chapter of the book Fashioning Graphics in the 1920s: Typefaces, Magazines and Fashion examines the gendered nature of typography and its discourses in 1920s France and the USA, as articulated through publication in magazines. In particular it questions the assumption that Modernist design was successful in applying a scientifically standardised approach to artistic form. By introducing questions from architectural and fashion history and applying them to graphic design, the research opens a challenge to previously accepted distinctions in design discourse. The chapter is part of a larger continuing research project which investigates the history of early twentieth-century graphic design and typography, extending research he published as Graphic Design in Germany, 1890–1945 (Thames & Hudson, University of California Press, 2000).