A Profound Waste of Time Magazine

A Profound Waste of Time is an award-winning independent magazine that celebrates gaming as an art form. Each issue delves into the gaming world, providing space for voices inside and outside the video game industry to tell their stories and have discussions. Beautiful, bespoke imagery from illustrators and artists fills the pages, painting gaming in a new light.

We’ve worked with the APWOT team since the magazine’s launch five years ago, printing issues 1 and 2 as well as a more recent special edition reprint.

The magazine needed to echo the client’s goal of conveying gaming as an art form, so we worked with them to include unique touches and special finishes.

Their debut issue features incredible names from the gaming world, including Toby Fox, Rami Ismail, Yacht Club Games and many more.

It includes a stunning risograph print based on the Bit. Trip series and an intricate fold out diagram based on Downwell, with accompanying annotations by the game’s designer, Ojiro Fumoto.

Issue one is perfect bound and made up of 184 pages, including a 24-page cut down section on Yacht Club Games.

Following the success of their first issue, issue 2 hosts a span of equally impressive names including Keita Takahashi, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Jenny Jiao Hsia and more.

Made up of 202 pages including a 16-page cut-down section on Jenny Jiao Hsia, the magazine portrays gaming as an art form in a new way. The panoramic cover art is unique to the second issue, with the detailed imagery based on the works of Keita Takahashi by Doug John Miller making up the design.

More recently, we’ve created a special edition reprint of the much sought-after issue 1, as well as a special edition reprint of issue 2, which quickly sold out after its 2021 launch.

Issue 1s special edition features art by Dan Mumford with an alternate colour scheme that mirrors that of the original Shovel Knight. But it’s the special UV ink coating that really makes this magazine stand out from the crowd, allowing the cover the glow in the dark. The client wanted the cover to create a sense of intrigue, with the green glow playing reference to the colour palettes of the final game levels in Shovel Knight.

The special edition of issue 2 features a panoramic landscape designed by Doug John Miller, printed on prismatic holographic stock, creating a stunning cover. Only part of the design is filled with colour, strategically placed to allow the reflective, rainbow nature of the holographic stock to shine through.

The client also wanted to create add-ons for customers to purchase in addition to copies of the magazine. Our dedicated team worked with APWOT to make a series of 12 tarot cards with exquisite foil detailing, from the Game Dev Tarot article in Issue 2. Each card is illustrated by artist and designer Joe Sparrow, whose work can be seen in animated shows like Disney’s Amphibia.

We also printed a collector bookmark as another add on, designed by Keita Takahashi as a take on the APWOT logo. The unique bookmark was printed on thick paper stock, adorned with blue foil, and laser cut to the iconic fan favourite APWOT shape.