Design research projects are funny. You make assumptions about a problem space, offering some educated assumptions about the topic and your target audience, often to discover you were wrong about pretty much everything. We assumed when investigating the use of sex toys among couples that shame would be the most significant barrier to their use. However, Our interviews revealed that most young adults are more than comfortable discussing the topic. What surprised us, though, was that while most individuals were comfortable discussing topics around sex, including the use of toys, almost all participants expressed little interest in exploring their sexuality beyond safety and solving problems. It was encouraging to see how attitudes around sex have changed among young people, but it begged the question: where do we go from here?

The adults under 40 we interviewed had the basics covered—for example, sex should be safe for all, there is no reason to be ashamed about sex, and sex isn't like the movies—it requires communication. Given this, perhaps the next step could be to explore the psychology of intimacy and the nuance of relationships. Try new things, delve beyond the limits of our understood satisfaction, and reach a new status quo where sexual fantasy and identity converge. We would create a large-format coffee table magazine that invites the audience to be curious about themselves and discover slowly, gently, over time, that there may be new heights attainable in love.

Photography was vital in bringing our vision for Subtext to life. I was behind the camera, moving lights and co-art-directing with teammate Liza Borissova. We collaborated openly with all our models, exploring light, statuesque postures, and visual concepts that balanced the provocative with the artistic. After all, Subtext isn't a sexy magazine; it's a magazine about intimacy, and we were committed to showing provocative imagery that still lands as vulnerable and tender. All the written content was borrowed from legendary Belgian-American psychotherapist Esther Perel.

Inclusivity was more than a consideration for Subtext—it was critical. There is so much to learn from community to community on the topics of intimacy, relationship arrangement, consent, exploration, fantasy, and more. We included a variety of interviewees and models representing a range of differences in gender, sexuality, age and experience.