How Quarterly Became A Platform For Empowering Creative Entrepreneurs
I recently discovered that Magic is Art created a thirty second video promoting his Quarterly subscription. I loved it.
You can see it here:
It reminded me that Quarterly was borne out of the desire to empower creators to deepen the relationship with their audience and bridge a digital relationship with the real world.
Quarterly preserves the romance and impact of a well-crafted package, serving as an homage of sorts to “ the power of packages and the triumph of the postal service”. Going against the steadfast trend of digital experiences replacing cherished analog ones, founder Zach Frechette reached out to friends like Cool Hunting, Swiss Miss, and Jason Kottke to make mail the medium, and object as expression.
Drawing from his tenure as editor of GOOD magazine, and in helping launch a print magazine during a time when counterparts were going online, Zach saw how the physical object sent through the mail could create a deeper bond with readers. By providing a tangible offline experience, the object became less about the information it contained and more about the role it served as a symbol of participation and belonging.
Starting with friends, and begetting more friends, the cast of Quarterly curators coming from creative disciplines like art, culture, and food grew from a handful to over 50 tastemakers. From musician/artist Pharrell, to television/food/travel guy Andrew Zimmern, more and more creative entrepreneurs became Quarterly curators.
But why?
Taking both Pharrell and Andrew Zimmern as examples, with a combined Twitter following in the millions, they took on qrtr.ly/pharrell-williams and qrtr.ly/andrew-zimmern as part of their identity so that they could offer the world something tangible that “ mirrored our interests, reflected our values, and made us feel like a part of something bigger than ourselves”. You can see the magic unfolding for their most recent issues, documented on Twitter by their respective issue numbers: #IAO02 and #ZIM01.
What started as a passion project to preserve what was being lost to progress became a tool for creative entrepreneurs to present themselves in an authentic way. Much like how a musician would go on tour (so that fans can experience the music that’s so easily available online), or how an author would host a book signing (to share the behind-scenes scaffolding of a narrative), creative entrepreneurs can now become curators on the Quarterly platform to provide an experience that sheds insight into who they are.