Who the heck is Radix Media?

Radix Media is a publishing operation and offset print shop based in Brooklyn, New York. We are dedicated to producing and disseminating radical literature and beautiful propaganda. This includes but is not limited to zines, pamphlets, books, posters,postcards and more. We are also a design studio, allowing us more creative freedom in producing our own work and more skill and flexibility in producing yours. Our name comes from the Latin root of the word radical which means to get to the root.

We believe that the personal is the political, and that it is impossible separate the politics of every day life from every day life. We strive to work with other groups and individuals through mutual aid, to raise public awareness of pressing issues and to foster social revolution.

Radix Media officially came into being in 2010, though we had operated on a sporadic, unofficial basis before that. We were previously based in Portland, Oregon amidst a vibrant independent publishing and artist community and have recently relocated to the beautiful Prospect Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Our initial focus was on activism; many activists organizing workshops, book tours, action camps, demonstrations and other events often didn’t have the time or resources to design elegant flyers and posters promoting their events effectively and in an attractive manner. It can be extremely difficult to communicate a message or get people out to an event if it’s not presented in a way that looks good, that’s why we decided to offer our design skills to friends that were putting on these events. Everyone was happy – they had more time to handle the nuts and bolts of organizing and networking, and we got to sit in front of a computer for hours on end, listening to Bruce Springsteen or Godspeed You! Black Emperor and pushing letters around for hours on end. That tradition continues even now, whether pushing mouse buttons or inking up the rollers of an offset press.

Have an idea for a project? We would love to talk to you about it! Feel free to contact us.

But isn’t print dead? I read everything on my iPad!

No, print isn’t dead. To be fair, the commercial print industry certainly is collapsing in on itself. Many companies are millions of dollars in the hole with terribly expensive equipment gathering dust on their shop floor. The economy being what it is, especially in this digital era, most of their corporate clients aren’t as willing to drop thousands of dollars on full-color glossy annual reports when they could just as easily circulate a PDF. Even paper retailers are converting their price lists to digital formats (think about that one for a second). But like most industries, small printers and publishers thrive in the shadows of corporations. The machines they throw away because they want something newer, we take and fix up. The clients they reject become our best friends. They spend tons of money and time chasing the 4-color process while we drool over tasteful spot colors. We have lots of friends in print shops that seem to be doing just fine.

Print is changing, yes, but it’s not dead. Our audience is not the corporate executive or the chain grocery store, it’s not the Hollywood celebrity or the newest hotshot writer. We strive to prioritize the work of the next generation of subversive voices, and those of typically marginalized communities. It may be hard to believe, but not everyone has the money to buy an iPad or a Kindle. Even harder to believe is that not everyone has a smartphone or internet access at all. Without a doubt, printed material is by far the best way to reach people. And, of course, you can take printed material anywhere, whether it’s on an airplane or a bus or into the forest or the bathroom. There’s also something real significant about having keepsakes to pass down to generation after generation, rather than settling for an overwhelming amount of disposable “news” and other media.

How do I get published by you?

We are not currently accepting unsolicited proposals. This may change in the near future, so keep checking back!