Dense Magazine

What if America's most densely populated (and reviled) state holds answers to our world's challenges? Dense is a ten-issue magazine that ripples across ten milestone events in New Jersey's past and future, daring to redefine design's role in a future that's messy and equitable, and breaking form with design publishing as we know it. We’re launching Dense to flip design on its head for a broader audience, and show just how interconnected things like culture, education, public space, history, politics, and environmental justice really are. New Jersey and its global counterparts see their fair share of experimentation while operating in the shadows of major cities like New York and Philadelphia, and we think the densest state in the US offers a unique portal to make sense of design's role within an ever more complicated future. In 148 full-color pages, each issue clusters essays, interviews, visual stories, fictional accounts, and tasty inserts around an event that pushes and pulls our readers in surprising directions, and leaves them smitten with our state’s spin on design. Our debut issue unpacks the opening day of the New Jersey Turnpike, and nine issues later, we conclude with what was deemed the state's most radical project that never happened. What connects all ten issues are thoughtfully crafted contributions with a dash of our editorial secret sauce, bound into something beautiful to cherish for years to come. Dense will feature original works by celebrated and emerging contributors both in and out of state. Those who are already in the design space and those who've never considered themselves designers. We'll also share archival material that's presented in a new light, adding to each issue's speculative, "what if" voice. Pre-order exclusive offers through our Kickstarter here: http://kck.st/3hYmuQa