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<em>Milk</em> by Natasha Mead

While in college doing research for a project, 22-year old New Zealand native Natasha Mead discovered there was a void in the blogging of DIY fashion tutorials inspired by high fashion. Enter MilkMilk is Mead’s digital concept made exclusively for tablets that will feature six to nine easy-to-follow tutorials in each issue.

Milk by Natasha Mead was the winner of the Mag+ creativity contest in which she won a $2500 publishing deal to help with the cost of launching her tablet-based concept.

The tutorials will vary in the time required as well as cost for each project. The cool thing about her app is that the projects are focused on the latest trends and are rooted in design. We spoke with Mead about Milk and here’s what she had to say:

Where are you in the process as far as developing the first full issue of Milk?

I’ve almost finished the first issue, but my client design work (Milk is a labor of love) has been dictating most of my time recently.

When do you anticipate the launch of Milk and how often were you thinking of putting out a new issue?

I’d like to have it in the app store as soon as possible, and publish quarterly.

I love the clean look of your design, what was the inspiration behind the aesthetic?

Thank you! Typography is the design discipline I hold in highest esteem. The way you can communicate so much with so little is something I find really engaging. I really enjoy the editorial design of Wilder Quarterly, Used and Bullet Magazines, to name a few.

Closer to home, publications on the iPad like Letter to Jane or the Kinfolk and Russh counterparts really make you appreciate the impact of clean design in a digital form. I think without print and the tactile nature it brings, that ‘simple design’ intimacy can be harder to translate, so I have a huge amount of respect for their work.

Where do you find the most inspiration for Milk ideas – fashion blogs, magazines, tv/film, people on the streets, etc.?

I love the aesthetic of magazines, but in terms of content and tone blogs are definitely my main inspiration. They tend to be less commercially driven than magazines, and often much more accessible because they’re written by people who are doing it purely out of enthusiasm. I suppose many still encourage an idealized lifestyle, but the intimacy they share with their readers and the fact you choose whether or not you want engage with them, makes it feel much less pushy in terms of consumption.

Where do you see Milk going in the future?

At this point, it’s impossible to say. I’ve been so privileged to not only work in a field I’m passionate about, but also at a time when I can create these things which just a few years ago weren’t possible. I hope I get the chance to keep going with it, but for the time being I’ll be happy just to have published something to the app store!

What differences do you like the most between blogging about fashion/design and having this digital app? What are you favorite features?

A blog is really more of a diary, it’s a one opinion window which is part of the appeal, but with a digital publication you can really focus more on curation.

I think with blogs and online content, it’s so easy to get lost amid a sea of browser tabs and RSS feeds. It can also be hard to create hierarchy, you have this stream of posts and information but no organized narrative. A digital publication really gives you that freedom to create this wholly separate package from start to finish, with it’s own space and room to breathe.

The Mag+ tools make it really simple to build that self-contained magazine, and maintain the aesthetic the whole way.

Lastly, where did you come up with the name Milk? We here at Design Milk especially love it!

What a coincidence! Well, I was trying to come up with a title which was reminiscent of day to day pleasures as I like to think of fashion as something for the everyday. I don’t know how those neurons connected but it led me to Milk – simple, necessary, and yet a transformational ingredient, just like clothes.

This designer interview series is supported by our partner, Mag+, the brains behind a free InDesign plug-in for creating tablet magazines, without a programmer. If you know InDesign, you can create and publish your own iPad or Android tablet magazine complete with rich media and interactivity. See designers being inspired and get started with Mag+ iPad publishing here.

Caroline Williamson is Editor-in-Chief of Design Milk. She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and can usually be found searching for vintage wares, doing New York Times crossword puzzles in pen, or reworking playlists on Spotify.