When I was brand new to quilting, browsing through magazines helped me get to know my own taste in quilts. While there are beautiful quilts of all types that I love, magazines let me explore the variety and feel my response to the styles. I still love to browse through and look at quilts because there's something I like more about the way the pictures look in a book as opposed to online.
However, I've only made a couple of quilts following magazine patterns. But, I have a collection of "want-to-do" patterns as well.