Emily Ota | Writer
September 25, 2024
In our day in age, social media takes over most sources of culture for young people. Despite this normalization, 19-year-old entrepreneurs Carson Kropfl and Mikey Walshe decided to create Yüth Magazine, a publication aimed at teenage audiences. Yüth includes a variety of artwork, photography, interviews, and stories to create the perfect blend of culture for newer generations.
Yüth Magazine was first created with the purpose of “pull[ing] kids from social media and still provide them with entertainment they can find on TikTok or Instagram reels,” explained Walshe in his “Design Analysis/Paralysis” section of the Yüth website. Walshe and Kropfl worked to create Yüth as an innovative magazine that is suited for teenagers. A problem Walshe and Kroplf found in regular old magazines was the inability for younger kids to focus on the long readings due to their shortened attention span. To fix this, Yüth gets to the point in their writing and only highlights the main ideas.
Another important aspect of Yüth is the inclusion of sports like skating, surfing, and snowboarding, instead of regular ball sports such as baseball or basketball. According to Walshe, the reasoning for this decision was “because they are very news driven sports. The game happens and after everyone sees what happened the next day on social media the buzz of that story is gone…When it comes to skating, snowboarding, surfing, music, and those style sports the story stands the test of time much better.” Yüth Magazine is bursting with timeless accounts of athletes, stories, and news about sports. Kropfl and Walshe state that the last thing that sets their magazine apart is the use of striking photos and colors that ensure the reader stays hooked. Mick Sowry, Yüth’s head of design, joined the team and puts in his work by capturing the shots and constructing the layout of the magazine.
Although the magazine is physically small, the making of Yüth is quite the task to take on. Walshe and Kropfl described the process of creating an issue as “Finding athletes and stories, connecting with the best photographers from the world…The fun part, doing the interviews, laying out the pages and late nights of collaborating on new ideas.” Even though the operation is hard work, the boys make sure they’re always having a good time doing it.
When asked why it is worth the effort to publish the magazine, Walshe and Kroplf responded with “Because it’s something that you can feel and touch and it is what our generation needs right now. Sure you can sit on your phone…and scroll, but the feeling of flipping through our magazine and really appreciating the story might just get you inspired.”
Sophomore Scarlett Farrow agreed with the appeal of the physicality of a magazine, stating that she “prefer[s] physical magazines to media magazines because having a copy of something adds more meaning to it.” This demand for something material instead of virtual led to the production of Yüth. The two businessmen put the money and time into Yüth Magazine to give back to the younger community and state that they will continue to do so through future publications.
Overall, Carson Kroplf and Mikey Walshe have created a physical interpretation of their vision for an offline culture source and wish to share it with the world. Their dream of bringing print back to the youth and inspiring others to unplug from social media shines through the first issue of their magazine and will without a doubt be clear in upcoming editions.
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