Omni magazine was kind of like Wired, but nostalgically different. I was never a die-hard science fact or fiction fan, but something about reading Omni, back when it was still alive, was like watching A&E today – ghost hunters, mystery medicine, stardust in our atoms. Today we don’t have much, print-wise, to compare, unless you want to count the hokey magazines at the bottom of the magazine racks, purposefully placed so we may forget their existence. Omni was different because it always legitimately analyzed science, even weird pseudoscience. Today, I read Wired magazine, mainly because it’s a great source of design inspiration, but also for its interesting articles. In some ways, like Omni magazine, Wired writes about technology with a contagious zest, always honest, always in the nexus, and without constraints. It’s Wired’s passion that gets it often compared to Omni magazine. While Wired magazine writes about technological gadgets and hacks, in some respects they are also authoring hacks into a cultural lifestyle, just as Omni once wrote hacks into human knowledge.

In the world of magazines, genre is a definitive factor that can make or break a publication. An ill-defined genre can swallow a whole publication and a unique genre can carry a magazine into its golden years as an iconic regional or national symbol. Two magazines, Omni and Wired magazine exist or existed, with similar defining genre. Omni, now out of print as well as Internet publication, was defined as “an original, if not controversial mixture of science fact, fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal” (Guiccione, B. first word., Omni 1(1):6; October 1978). Wired magazine is known for reporting on how technology affects culture, the economy, and politics. Both publications express concern, enthusiastically and/or apprehensively over technology in the world today, but their vision, style and editorial content differ in several ways.

Omni magazine embraced technology as seen through the eyes of the armchair scientist and held skeptical, but respectful criticism for what may have bent outside defined “science”. Omni magazine launched in October 1978 as the brainchild publication of Kathy Keeton Guiccione, wife of Bob Guiccione, of Penthouse, Longevity, and Compute magazines. Together, the publications were housed under Guiccione’s General Media. Omni magazine was initially named Nova, but in order to avoid possible litigation with a new PBS science show, the name was soon changed. Omni quickly became a success. Its pages not only discovered the latest scientific and technological news, but also featured Q & A interviews with the most prestigious scientists of the 20^th century. Also published in Omni were short stories, sometimes serialized, from top science fiction authors, and awe-inspiring artwork from some of the most talented illustrators of the century. Omni’s style, edgy and sophisticated, was compared often to its up and coming nemesis, Wired magazine. Omni’s content was expertly inquisitive, yet written at a more natural level than the professionally geared Scientific American and New Scientist. The articles were credible sources, often contributed by some of the world’s leading scientific minds. Interviews spanned all “scientific” realms, from Noble prizewinners to UFO crackpots. Many times Omni introduced new scientific concepts before they became well known. As seen in an ad for CompuServe, from a 1985 Omni, the concept of a search engine to find online finance, travel info, games, and images was introduced. One blogger from craftbox.com commented that his favorite issue of Omni, November 1986, featured an article that was called “Tiny Tech”, the first to describe the fundamentals of nanotechnology.

In the beginning, and for most of Omni’s history, the magazine dedicated much of its content to true scientific news, however, as interesting as the articles were, they were never as outlandish as the pseudoscience Omni began to write about in its later years. Although Omni remained skeptical on paranormal and alien-ic news, their increasing interest hurt their credibility. The print side of Omni folded in the winter of 1995, and the magazine continued to only exist on the Internet until 1998. In some ways, although no longer a tactile publication, the magazine presence experienced a small rebirth. Participating in the Internet helped rekindle admiration for the magazine’s dedication to all things cyberspace.

Being on the Internet allowed Omni to take more risks and refocus on what it had once been, “home of gonzo science writing” (www.nationmaster.com). Their Internet presence covered up to the minute science news, chats with top scientists, blogs by scientific professionals, user interactive experiments, and online stories by revered science fiction writers. Despite excitement, the online Omni ceased to turn a profit, and was immediately yanked after its founding mother, Kathy Keeton Guiccione passed away from complications of breast cancer in 1998.

Like Omni magazine, Wired magazine was dedicated to cyberspace, but their passion for the most part was an initial inspiration largely captured in their vision. Whereas Omni magazine focused on scientific technology, Wired writes about Internet technology and technological gadgets. Where Omni had focused on the make up of science, such as astronomical material, Wired magazine breaks down the chemical components of everyday items, one example being Cool Whip, in their “What’s Inside” section. Where Omni may have asked the Whys, Wired asks the Whats and Hows? Omni magazine was edgy in its day, taking advantage of glossy black pages dripping in the illustrative essence of Chris Moore, with cutting edge scientific articles written about Earth, astronomy, and biomedicine. Omni magazine was like Discover’s long lost doppelganger, only with a twist. Even more accurately, Omni was the like the older, inspirational brother of today’s Wired Magazine.

Wired magazine was first published in 1993, under the large conglomerate of Conde Nast Publications. From it’s beginning, it was paralleled with an Internet version entitled Wired News. In July 2006, Conde Nast decided to complete ownership by buying Wired News for $25 million. Much of the articles featured on Wired News had been reprints of printed articles in Wired magazine.

Wired magazine has held a unique position in the technological world, grasping scientific news and infusing libertarian and techno-obsessed interpretation. By 1997, the magazine had won two National Magazine Awards for General Excellence. Much of Wired’s content is being driven by founding Executive editor, Kevin Kelly (by no means a conservative author). As also William Gibson, whose Wired article “Disneyland with the Death Penalty” banned Wired from Singapore. Wired magazine soon earned a reputation as a “gonzo” magazine of its own, unrivaled in some aspects, but still compared often to Omni. With a much less “nerdy” readership than Omni’s – think more “Geek chic”, think Bill Gates meets Jon Stewart, Wired became a flattering angle to rising geekdom. Like Omni magazine, some of the articles featured in Wired have been technologically inspiring, writing about technology unheard of or underappreciated. The April 2003 “ Welcome to the Hydrogen Economy” amongst readers, opened up discussion on hydrogen power, while the November 2003 “Open Source Everywhere” declared open source as the “hot” direction cyberspace was moving into. With articles written about the political and social benefits of carbon-cutting science, how to self promote oneself by becoming a myspace whore, and high profile interviews with geeky geniuses like Peter Jackson and George Church, Wired magazine helped spur an underdog movement where the tech and internet obsessed gain elite status, oozing the zippie bourgeois of apple products, hybrid cars, and unlimited RAM.

Omni magazine was always a beautifully graphic magazine, but in many ways dated itself with robotic fantasy illustrations and “Tron” stylized typography, overzealously celebrating the kinky odd sexuality of the late 70’s and early 80’s. Wired magazine is just as, and in some respects more so, graphically beautiful. Wired magazine has consistently pushed and played with the envelope, outputting design that is timeless, redefining, and admirably well thought out. Sometimes criticized for being too risky, they have managed to create culturally and socially dynamic graphic content. Hot and metallic dyes embrace their pages, with graphic elements mirroring Internet design. For the first five years of its life, Wired magazine laid at the mercy of its founding designers, John Plunkett and Barbara Kuhr (Plunkett and Kuhr). Together they created an iconic brand logo, readily familiar to the masses. The magazine layout draws a likeness from the design catalogs of David Carson, April Greiman, and Paul Rand – with geometric linear styling, innovative typographic playground moves, and clean, practical merging of the graphic and photographic. Its pages, consciously and artfully directed, have garnered Wired at least one design award in its first four years.

Wired magazine has always stayed in touch with the media, even more pronounced in their Internet identity. Wired News follows a similar clean format to its print version, while also preserving the user-friendly sophistication necessary in an Internet site. Wired magazine at first downplayed their Internet preoccupation. However, they were the first magazine to list the email addresses of their authors and contributors, and created a section by their third issue, entitled “Net Surf”, that listed interesting FTP sites. A companion website, Hot Wired, helped spur the creation of several other websites and search engines, including suck.com and Hotbot.

Wired magazine was to become a magazine heavily involved with its readership. Until 1995, Omni could only reach their audience through glossy pages. Their joining the internet came too late when their following was already fading. Wired magazine has not only engaged their readership, but their advertisers and contributors as well. To be seen or read in Wired is a misfit honor. Like Omni, Wired had also had its fair share of innovative advertisers, such as Apple, Intel, and Sony. Unlike Omni, it also has had a fair amount of fashionista hip advertisers, such as Calvin Klein and Absolut, who only hope to ride the cool wave into a newly tapped market.

Omni magazine folded under terms within its own control, while Wired magazine has seen its own share of troubling times, particularly during the dotcom crash of the late 90’s. Because of innovative editorials, risky, yet interesting articles, and design savvy, Wired has managed to outlast its competitors through such hard times and become the notable publication it is today.