13.11.2024

Road trips on paper

“Curves” is a car magazine that doesn’t feature any cars at all. Founder Stefan Bogner explains how a crazy idea became a high-quality print product successful on the market with over 500,000 copies sold to date.

Stefan Bogner studied Industrial Design, initially creating record and CD covers for the international music scene. In 1994, he and two partners founded design agency fpm factor product münchen, which was active for branded companies like Porsche, Alois Dallmayr, MairDumont and Bayerischer Rundfunk, to name a few. Many of the works created there were distinguished with national and international prizes. In 2016, Stefan Bogner Creative Studio was founded in Munich, where the owner mainly concentrates on the Automotive, Sport, Travelling, Food and Hospitality industries.

Since 2011, Bogner has also published the magazine “Curves – soulful driving”, launched an automotive blog and even began working as a photographer himself. He came up with the idea of producing a magazine like “Curves” during his ten years working with MairDumont. For the specialist publisher, Bogner designed travel guides from the DuMont and Marco Polo series, among others.

The road takes center stage
Back then, he made two crucial observations. On the one hand, he time and again asked a wide range of people: What were some of your best vacations? Very often, the response was road trips. “And of course, you take them on the road. A lot of people want to drive down State Route 1 in California, while others dream of the roads winding through Stelvio Pass or the Route des Grandes Alpes in France.” Even he himself has often taken his old cars through the mountains, always on the lookout for relevant travel guides. “I thought if there isn’t one, I’ll make one myself. A travel magazine where the street is the destination.”

The individual issues of “Curves” focus on one country, usually following a route as their theme. For instance, the “North Italy” edition starts at the Stelvio Pass and ends in Venice. On the other hand, the motto of the Austria issue is “From Trieste to Reutte.” In the spotlight: several routes, including famous mountain roads (like the Grossglockner High Alpine Road) and a number of mountain passes (Gerlos, Brenner). As of the end of 2023, 24 issues have been published, with more currently being produced.

“You have a good eye”
As the publisher, Stefan Bogner is responsible for the entire production. Besides choosing topics, research, designing the layout and typography, he also provides all photos. “It just happened that way, since I didn’t have a budget for it to start out. Photographers I worked with as a designer would say: You have a good eye, just do it yourself.”

Today, he’s also embraced as a photographer, and has had the honor of exhibiting at Leica among others. He does employ two authors for the copy. Publishing house Delius-Klasing Verlag is responsible for distribution (book shops, online).

“Curves” is for everyone
Responding to the question of his target group, Bogner says, “Die Strasse ist für alle da” – a German saying meaning that roads are for everyone. Readers include all ages of peoples with all types of vehicles – bicycles, motorcycles and cars – worldwide, because the magazine is issued in two languages. The initial run is 10,000 to 20,000 copies and over 500,000 copies have been sold in total to date.

The magazine is printed at a local print shop in Germany. It also includes a map featuring a QR code that links to a playlist curated for the route. “These days, you’d be hard-pressed to find a 300-page magazine produced in such high quality for 20 euros,” Stefan Bogner says confidently. A link to the digital world is important (especially with Instagram) – but: “Print is alive and well!”

What a great idea!
Besides the quality of the product – both the content and the design – the publisher sees another reason for the economic success of “Curves”: The magazine has been in a partnership with car manufacturer Porsche since issue 3. Though, on his search for cooperation partners and publishing houses he initially encountered quite a bit of skepticism when it came to the magazine’s chances of success.

“Everyone said the magazine fills a niche, that it won’t sell – that it was too risky for them. It even took me three tries with Porsche to find someone who said: What a great idea,” Bogner recounts. In the meantime, he has also produced 20 high-quality books (including the Porsche 918 Spyder book) for the car manufacturer and created concept stores named “Curvistan” including cafés and art galleries in several cities – most recently in Bangkok.

His conclusion: “It’s interesting what a crazy idea can transform into. If you believe in it, stick to it and it isn’t totally stupid, it makes sense to develop this kind of product. Though I didn’t expect it to work this well.”

Image copyright: Stefan Bogner