Former editors of Design Week and The Media Leader are among those involved in the launch of a print-first monthly B2B magazine for the commercial creative industries.
The Static will launch with a team of five, covering media, advertising and design in “tabloid-style” across ten issues a year. Around 17 of its 25 pages will be editorial content, with a promise to avoid “press-release churn”.
Founder and publisher Claire Foss, a communications strategist who has previously written for the likes of Haymarket and William Reed, told Press Gazette she wants The Static to tell the stories not “being told” in the industry.
She said: “We believe there’s a general feeling across the creative industries that we’re being underserved in terms of journalism and accountability.
“We know, because we’re all in the thick of these worlds, that there are stories that aren’t being told, and that the commercial pressures of an a purely online ecosystem have stung many publishing businesses in this space.”
Subscribers will pay £12 a month per issue plus postage, with additional revenue planned from advertising and partnerships in the design industry.
Foss will be supported by freelances including former founder and editor-in-chief of The Media Leader Omar Oakes, who will lead The Static’s media and broadcast coverage, and ex-Design Week editor Tom Banks who will lead design and advertising content. Emily Gosling, former Design Week acting editor and Creative Review senior writer, will lead the Life section.
In a launch memo, the publisher said: “We think this is something we all need. A breath of fresh air: realistic, fun, interesting, honest, journalism and design, all in beautiful colour newsprint… We want to give everyone a place worth hanging out in. A creative place that understands your life. That’s why we’re a print tabloid, and proud of it.”
Online revenue ‘didn’t answer question for us’
The announcement follows The Canary’s launch of a daily national newspaper in May, at a time when print circulation is generally on the decline for publishers.
In the magazine sector, just ten UK magazines grew their actively-purchased print sales in 2025, according to the latest ABC data.
Foss said print was the chosen format for The Static because “online reach is dropping, the experience for users is getting worse”.
“The experience for a lot of people of online journalism is not really answering what they want…We looked at the difficulty in bringing enough revenue in online, and we decided that it didn’t answer the question for us,” she said.
“We also didn’t like the thought of being automatically ingested into an AI slop generator. So we made a product in a space that felt better and felt hopeful and fun and interesting, and a really good product that people might like.”
She added that she is confident demand for print will be there because the product has a “look and feel like nothing else that’s out there”.
The size of The Static’s print run will depend on demand. It will publish sample articles on a Shopify-powered website for subscription sign-ups, as well as a newsletter that will be used to promote new print editions.
The Static will also initially distribute up to 500 copies at workplaces and transport hubs around London, Birmingham and Manchester, major media and advertising companies such as Starcom and Publicis, and creative workspaces in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Oakes said: “The Static is doing something I didn’t think anyone would actually attempt: building a serious, independent editorial product for this industry that defiantly sits outside the platform economy.
“Print-only, subscription-led, no press-release churn: it’s a genuine alternative model and I’m convinced the industry is ready for it.”
The Static launches on 11 September and is available to pre-order.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
