Suyong Joh is a designer and entrepreneur based in Seoul who founded Magazine B in November 2011 through his company JOH & Co. The concept was unlike anything in Korean publishing at the time: each issue would be devoted entirely to a single brand, exploring its history, philosophy, products, and people through the format Joh calls a brand documentary. No paid advertisements. No sponsored supplements. Just one brand per issue, examined with the depth and visual seriousness of a monograph. The B stands for Brand, and the formula has not changed in over a decade.
The brands are chosen for what Joh describes as balance — style, values, quality-price ratio, and cultural significance. Early issues covered Freitag, Ace Hotel, and Intelligentsia Coffee. Later editions explored Patagonia (with a cover quote from founder Yvon Chouinard: “It’s not an adventure until something goes wrong”), Lego, Leica, Aesop, Rolex, IKEA, Uniqlo, and Disney. Each issue features interviews with founders, collaborators, and users; archival research; and the kind of considered photography that makes everyday products feel like cultural artefacts. The editorial team travels to brand headquarters worldwide, and the resulting publications read like the definitive account of each subject — the book you wish existed about the brands you most admire.
Published bilingually in Korean and English, Magazine B is distributed across more than 35 countries and has built a readership of 169,000 followers on Instagram alone. In 2012, JOH won Korea’s Design Award for graphic design. In 2016, Magazine B won a Silver Lion at the Cannes Advertising Festival in the design craft category — the first periodical publication ever to receive the honour. Joh has since expanded the B universe with “A Perspective,” a new series, and “The Home,” a special issue exploring the living spaces of creators worldwide.
In the Korean magazine market, where titles rise and fall with every season, Magazine B has published continuously for over fourteen years without a single advertisement. That consistency, Joh has said, is itself a form of branding — and the most important kind.
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