Magazine Tears

November 5, 2008 4:12 PM

How do I file my oversize magazine tears?

I am an artist/designer, I am always saving my favorite magazine tears to look back on for inspiration. For the 8.5" x 11" magazines I store them in sheet protectors in binders. It works perfectly.

Unfortunately most of the magazine layouts I like come from international magazines or oversize magazines. I've tried buying international binders - but they are also too small for most magazines. I even found a place that sold 11"x17" binders and protectors but they are way too big and the pages actually end up getting folded over.

Any suggestions of what to do with these? Other designers (esp in fashion industry) must have this problem!!

What I don't want to do:
A) Scan them all and reprint them in 8.5 x 11 (Too time consuming)
B) Cut and paste (I like seeing both sides and having the whole page)
C) Laminate them (I'd like to be able to remove/rearrange them)
D) Photograph Portfolios (these come in good sizes but they are way too expensive and don't have many pages)

HELP ME! I AM DROWNING IN MAGAZINES!

posted by ChloeMills to clothing, beauty, & fashion (4 comments total)

A) Scan them all and reprint them in 8.5 x 11 (Too time consuming)

easier way is to just color xerox. save them up and do this every few months or so! keep them loose leaf in a folio envelope/case in the meantime.
posted by lia at 4:41 PM on November 5, 2008

I worked at an agency that represented fashion photographers once and they had mountains of tearsheets. They stored them in extra-wide filing cabinets. Really big stuff was put in flat files.
posted by bradbane at 4:47 PM on November 5, 2008

Have you considered going fully digital for now? Scanning them and keeping them stored & filed digitally, able to be reproduced in whatever format you desire at some future time?

There are online services that can scan them all for you for a fee, should this be too tedious and/or time consuming for you. For instance, this site provides Web-based document management:
http://www.imagingservices.com/
posted by Nixie Pixel at 4:53 PM on November 5, 2008

2nding Nixie Pixel's suggestion. This is something I'm preparing to do myself, since I'm really picky about the quality and what not. Since I work primarily on a MacBook Pro, it gives me the ability to have what I need at my fingertips when brainstorming for a shoot away from home.

The xerox idea is also good. Though at that point I would say you might as well just go digital if you're spending that kinda time and money.
posted by arishaun at 7:58 PM on November 5, 2008