WWW.MONOCLE.COM

Part of my summer reading is the summer edition of Monocle, Tyler Brulés latest magazine.

It wasn’t exactly that I had expected to come across anything betterplace, but there it was: In an article featuring Berlin (sorry, for subscription only) as the global cultural capital, I saw a photo of Noa Lerner, „an Israeli student at Berlin’s Universität der Künste in Charlottenburg“, who created the

Music Drop, a small silicone earpiece that can store data equal to one CD. ... Companies are lining up to turn her Music Drip into a merchandizing instrument.

Noas next project has a very strong betterplace connection, as she is one of the design students devoting her time to our WTO project, even devoting her diploma to it.

The next paragraph also had a betterplace connection, featuring Hanna Wiesner and Magdalena Kohler from Trikoton, who are

creating unique textiles by generating patterns from their customers voice frequencies and started a fashion label.

As those of you who attended our highly successful x-mas stalls last year will remember, Hanna and Magdalena created for betterplace a beautiful scarf as well as fingerless gloves, the profit of which went fully into selected betterplace projects. For this years x-mas we are planning yet another betterplace product together with the two. 

A big thanks to our friends Axel and Sybille Kufus, who introduced us to the three designers, who are part of Axels Design Reactor. 

The annual Mercer Worldwide Cost of Living survey was recently published for 2008 in late July. Not surprisingly, Copenhagen ranked 7th, down from 6th in 2007, and Moscow ranks number one as the most expensive city in the world. Click on the link above to see the entire list.

Mercer also ranked Copenhagen as the 11th best city to live in, ranking Zurich as no. 1 in 2006. These rankings, as well as many others on Denmark being the happiest place in the world, were recently underscored by Monocle magazine's ranking of Copenhagen being "the best city in the world for quality of life" in June this year. It also won, "best design city" by the magazine. In an article written by Copenhagen Capacity entitled "Why Copenhagen is the best city in the world for quality of life,"it states that some of the reasons for why Copenhagen has won this accolade by Monocle including, "Copenhagen’s 1,600 annual hours of sunshine (WHAT???), the 167 cinema screens in 32 different cinemas (AGAIN, WHAT???), and the low murder rate of six per year (OK, this is true)." Other reasons cited include green policies and the fact that 54.9 percent of the city's waste is recycled, innovation with an average of 5,000 new firms established each year, and a tolerance towards homosexuals. Finally, the editors state, "good humour, their intellect and, of course, their good looks," as final aspects that sealed the deal. Interesting....

There are many reasons why I personally believe that Copenhagen is ONE of the best cities to live in. I don't know if I would say it is the best overall. Comparing my experience living (not just visiting) in Dallas, Austin, New York, Boston and San Francisco, oh, and Erie, Pennsylvania :), I would say that there are many pros such as convenience (easy to get around, limited traffic, possibility of biking most everywhere, etc.), accessibility, safety, infrastructure, social welfare system, international orientation (mostly but not always), choice of natural, organic products, quality of life in terms of outdoor activities and cultural offerings, pace and tempo (more human and balanced). I also find that the people in general have a greater sense of living their values - placing priority on family, being healthy and leisure (ok, maybe a little too much sometimes, but it beats burning yourself out like in the U.S.), vacations (six weeks is most common), nimbleness in terms of policy changes (small enough to implement changes in the system relatively easier than a larger, more bureaucratic nation). I could go on and on I suppose. There are draw backs, don't get me wrong. I won't get into the negatives as I would prefer to focus on what I like about Denmark, which is a lot seeing that I've been living here for six years now -- longer than I lived in the above mentioned cities. I will say that this cost of living survey does hit home and with the compromised world economy, we are starting to feel the crunch - especially when purchasing our vegetables.

Cheers for Copenhagen being simply THE BEST!

There are so many things wrong with today's rant about London bellepoq does not know where to begin. But the first paragraph is a good place to start.

1. The Christiane Amanpour thing is not even funny. At all.

2. We are familiar with failblog.org so don't try and pretend you're funny by using the old FAILED joke.

3. Bellepoq likes to imagine the future of the media sometimes with her learned friends who care passionately about the future of the media. We see no need to refer to that activity as if it were a hobby of

ours. That would be lame, worthy of a FAILED.

3. Pray tell what is Tyler's remedy for knife crime in London? Oh wait, he doesn't need to have one. He spends his time on a high horse in Marylebone, and then his high horse takes him to St Pancras where he can be whisked away to the xenophobic land of Switzerland and never have to come face to face with a hoodie at any point along the way.

4. Would rather slit my wrists than live in Switzerland.

5. Heathrow sure does suck but don't recall in any one of the million journeys I have made through that airport, because you know, bellepoq is just as well-traveled as dear Tyler, smelling urine upon arrival. Perhaps Tyler peed in his pants?

6. "As we made our way into central London, we travelled along a rubbish-lined motorway and then turned on to rubbish-strewn streets. Set back from the curb were shuttered shopfronts, little street-life and patchy street lighting." London is a huge city. Some of it really sucks. A lot of people are poor. Get the fuck over it.

7. That the Shepherd's Bush wasteland (which bellepoq concurs with) "hasn’t been turned into a proper mixed-use, awe-inspiring building to further generate development in the UK will go down in the history of urbanism as one of the great, wasted opportunites of the 21st century" unfortunately does not registers on the global radar of pressing issues Tyler.

8. Agree that turning Oxford Circus into a Shibuya style crossing has its problems, but don't you just hate the way he so categorically extols the virtues of Japanese and Swiss people every single fucking week? Perhaps he would like to be reincarnated as a sushi.

9. As poq also asserts, London has never been a city to be ashamed of its dirty, thuggish history. Yes, there is agreement among Londoners that probably we apply too many band-aids here and there and fail to really tackle the problems with 'sustainable solutions'. Yet on a micro-level, let bellepoq remind all those who moan all day of the lack of air-conditioning and whatnot on the underground that one is journeying along the oldest subway system in the world in a city that has existed since Roman times. Bellepoq too does not wish to be suffocated to death on the underground but is quite certain that our politicians too do not want their constituents to die on them and are devising ways to solve this, little band-aid by little band-aid.

10. Yes there is a lot wrong wit London. Yes, it probably will never function like Zurich or Copenhagen. But for every Tyler who escapes from this city there are 10 more who will want to live here, so good riddance to him really.

Το περιοδικό Monocle, το δεύτερο παιδί του τρομερού Tyler Brule - το πρώτο είναι το Wallpaper* - είναι ένα είδος "εναλλακτικού" περιοδικού, αφού η ύλη του περιλαμβάνει θέματα από τον χώρο της πολιτικής, των διεθνών σχέσων, του πολιτισμού και του design. Είναι μόλις 1 έτους και ήδη τυγχάνει παγκόσμιας αναγνώρισης ως ένα έγκυρο και έγκριτο περιοδικό. Στο τελευταίο του τεύχος λοιπόν, έχει αφιέρωμας στις 20 πιο...να ζεις πόλεις, ή για να συνεννοούμαστε, world's 20 most liveable cities. Και όπως γράφει και το site του περιοδικού για το θέμα "μήνες φιλικών, συχνά μεταμεσονύχτιων και... jetlagged συζητήσεων, είχαν σαν αποτέλεσμα τον οδηγό του Monocle στις πόλεις του κόσμου που είναι καλύτερα να ζει κάποιος. [...] Ολόκληρο το τεύχος είναι αφιερωμένο στις ανησυχίες, τις δυνάμεις, τους ανθρώπους και τις πολιτικές που κάνουν τις πόλεις μας να "δουλεύουν". Ποιες είναι λοιπόν αυτές οι 20 πόλεις στις οποίες αν ζεις, θεωρείσαι τυχερός;Στην πρώτη θέση, καθόλου περίεργα, είναι η Κοπεγχάγη. Το άρθρο αναφέρεται στην αστική ποιότητα ζωής, κάνοντας λόγο για τα περιβαλλοντικά θέματα, τις συγκοινωνίες την ανάπτυξη του Μετρό, κ.ά. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, τα στοιχεία που παραθέτει το περιοδικό έχουν ως εξής:

Εγκληματικότητα: 6 φόνοι, 3.427 διαρρήξεις
Εκπαίδευση: το 22% των εκπαιδευτικών ιδρυμάτων είναι ιδωτικά
Υγεία: η ιατρική φροντίδα στα κρατικά νοσοκομεία είναι δωρεάν για τους Δανούς πολίτες. Μόλις το 1.73% των ασθενών στην κεντρική Κοπεγχάγη χρησιμοποιούν ιδιωτική ασφάλιση
Ηλιοφάνεια: Μ.Ο/χρόνο 1.600 ώρες
Ανεκτικότητα: ο γάμος ομοφυλοφίλων νομιμοποιήθηκε το 1989. Νόμοι περί ισότητας των δύο φύλων ισχύουν από την δεκαετία του 1980
Κουλτούρα: 32 κινηματογράφοι, 167 οθόνες
Πράσινο: χρειάζονται λιγότερο από 5 λεπτά με το ποδήλατο για να φτάσεις σε περιοχή πράσινου
Περιβάλλον: 54.9% των σκουπιδιών ανακυκλώθηκαν το 2006

Δεν μπορώ να πω ότι εξεπλάγην, άλλωστε πριν από λίγους μήνες είχαν ακουστεί αναφορές για το βιοτικό επιπέδο των σκανδιναβικών χωρών. Η συνέχεια λίγο με προβλημάτισε. Έχουμε και λέμε:

2. Μόναχο 3. Τόκυο 4. Ζυρίχη 5. Ελσίνκι 6. Βιέννη 7. Στοκχόλμη 8. Βανκούβερ
9. Μελβούρνη 10. Παρίσι 11. Σύδνευ 12. Χονολουλού 13. Μαδρίτη 14. Βερολίνο
15. Βαρκελώνη 16. Μοντρεαλ 17. Φουκουοκα 18. Αμστερνταμ 19. Μινεαπολις
20. Κυοτο.

Καλά, όχι ότι περίμενα να δω την Αθήνα, πόσο μάλλον κάποια άλλη πόλης της Ελλάδας στο εν λόγω αφιέρωμα. Ξαφνιάστηκα λίγο που δεν είδα πόλη της Αγγλίας, να πω την αλήθεια μου... Αλλά αυτή η Φουκουοκα, εδώ μου'χει κάτσει. Τι παραπάνω έχει δηλαδή αυτή η πόλη, 890 χμ. από το Τόκυο που το κάνει καλύτερο από την Αθήνα; Καλύτερο και από το Άμστερνταμ; Διαβάζω λοιπόν, ότι έχει όλα τα καλά μιας μεγάλης πόλης - shopping, καλό φαγητό και συγκοινωνίες - και όλα αυτά τα συνδυάζει με τα πλεονεκτήματα μιας μικρότερης, επαρχιακής πόλης. Είναι φιλική, καθαρή και ασφαλής, έχει καλά μουσεία, έχει μέγαρο μουσικής και ένα πολυόροφο βιβλιοπωλείο, ανοιχτό 24 ώρες τη μέρα. Τι απ'όλα αυτά δεν έχει η Αθήνα, μονολογώ; Δεν έχει μουσεία -που γύρναγα εγώ όλη μέρα τις προάλλες που ανέβηκα;- δεν έχει Παπασωτηρίου και Ελευθερουδάκη σχεδόν σε κάθε γειτονιά...Για να μην μιλήσω για ΤΟ μεγαρο μουσικής. Τελειώνοντας το άρθρο, παίρνω την απάντησή μου: "το καλύτερο απ'όλα όμως, η Φουκουοκα, έχει το αίσθημα της άπλας και του ανοιχτού, που είναι διάχυτο στον θαλασσινό αέρα και τους πράσινους χώρους της". ΟΚ, με'πεισες.

Προσωπικά, αυτό που κατάλαβα από την όλη υπόθεση είναι οτι αν η Αθήνα/Ελλάδα θέλει ποτέ να μπει σ' ένα τέτοιο αφιέρωμα, όχι λόγω ψώνιου αλλά λόγω ουσίας, θα πρέπει να επικεντρωθεί σε όλα εκείνα που ξέρει ότι πρέπει να γίνει καλύτερη πόλη/χώρα. Στην υγεία, την εκπαίδευση και το περιβάλλον. Και το πράσινο. Περισσότερο πράσινο. Θαρρώ ότι ο πιο δραστικός τρόπος για να γίνει κάτι τέτοιο, είναι η λύση που προτείνει το Μonocle. "Mαζέψτε έναν δήμαρχο και μερικούς συμβούλους, οικονομολόγους και δημοσιογράφους, βάλτε τους σε ένα λεωφορείο, ή αφήστε τους να περπατήσουν, ή να πάρουν το ποδήλατο: να δουν την πόλη από κάθε πιθανή γωνία". Βέβαια, το Monocle δεν ξέρει ότι τα λεωφορεία στην Αθήνα είναι σαρδελοκούτια, η πεζοπορία είναι δύσκολη υπόθεση και η ποδηλασία extreme sport.
Παίρνω άδεια τον Αύγουστο. Τι καιρό κάνει άραγε στην Φουκουόκα τον Αύγουστο;

update: Πριν λίγο έπεσε στα χέρια μου το τεύχος του περιοδικού και στο ένθετο The Monocle Design Directory, στην κατηγορία κατοικίες (residence) έχει και την Ελλάδα, με τίτλο Perfect Retreat. Παρουσιάζει το καταφύγιο της αρχιτέκτονος Κατερίνας Τσιγαρίδα στο Πήλιο. Μπορεί να μην είμαστε μέσα στις 20, αλλα άντε βρες τέτοιο σπιτάκι, δίπλα στις ελιές και την θάλασσα στην Φουκουοκα. Ε, μα!

Πηγή+φωτό: monocle.com

]]> http://calvinflorian.wordpress.com/?p=511 Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:03:21 +0000 calvinflorian http://calvinflorian.wordpress.com/?p=511

Our local glossy did a story on real estate for their magazine. The group Modern Luxury covers most of the major cities with their magazines highlighting the upper east side of life.

They kindly featured our home in one of the Real Estate 08: Neighborhood sections. They refer to our house as "mind blowing" - thank you much, but not yet - and the neighborhood as one of the hottest in the ATL. BTW - we didn't topple a crack house to build our home. Check it out!

___________________________________________

IN-AGAIN INMAN

REAL ESTATE SPECIAL : INMAN PARK AND THE OLD FOURTH WARD

Aristocratic Inman Park is the kind of consummate country-meets-city neighborhood that makes people flee wintry Northern climes for the New South. A 19th century spin on the ‘50s suburb, Atlanta’s first planned community boasts mega Victorian mansions and green spaces like Springvale Park within walking distance to the happening hubs of Little Five Points and the booming Old Fourth Ward. “It’s not cookie-cutter,” says real estate agent Pat Westrick of the motley mix of lawyers and architects, but also young creatives who relish the neighborhood’s convenience to city life. “You definitely realize how central it is to everything,” says Brad Lewis, cofounder of creative agency The SuperGroup, whose Inman Alley neighbors are architects, ad agencies, film companies and a chef named Kevin who makes killer steaks. Modern design is scarce in Inman because of National Register of Historic Places restrictions. But there is a mini-modernist boom town.

“At the time that I moved into the area, there was not much to be had here. Now, some three years later, O4W is one of the city’s hottest neighborhoods.” — Caren West PR Creative Director

Inman’s North Highland corridor is on fire and boasts that most unusual of Atlanta car culture sights: foot traffic! Even after 10PM! The city-within-a-city has experienced a retail tsunami, with folk art stalwart Barbara Archer Gallery in the house and hip florist. Adaptation blooming next door to mid-century modern shrine, the 3,000 square foot City Issue, recently decamped from Buckhead. The area is hopping with big-city refugees like one-time New York doll Jaci Effron who’s credited with opening the first real girlified boutique in Inman, Jac; New Orleans transplant Tracy Ewell, who has an eponymous, storybook make-up shop on Lake Avenue; and former Angeleno Laura Saunders, Inman Park Pet Works purveyor of doggie “couture” and organic kibbles.

Several restaurant dynasties call Inman Park home: Kevin Rathbun’s upscale meat-opolis Rathbun’s, Krog Bar and Kevin Rathbun Steak, named one of the best new steakhouses in America by the red meat-savvymenfolk at Details. Riccardo Ullio’s pasta empire of Sotto Sotto and Fritti were pioneers, followed by Shaun Doty’s fancy, comfort food-mecca, Shaun’s, on Edgewood. And good luck finding a parking space any time of day at Parish. Bob Amick’s paean to the Big Easy has helped turn Inman Park into a certifiable scene.rising up in Inman’s shadow. The hipster new kid- on-the-block is the Old Fourth Ward, sandwiched between the MLK Historic District and Inman. Like some European appraising the Americas, photographer Ruth Dusseault calls it “the new world,” with its cool restaurants and retail. The modernist mecca has its own Sol LeWitt sculpture and a conceptual art gallery, Saltworks. Crack houses are being toppled for cutting-edge design like the mind-blowing Florian-Hart House. Designed by New York Times magazine-lauded architects Brian Bell and David Yocum of the firm bldgs, the house has a facade painted by DJ/artist John Otte and is flanked by a host of modernist starter homes, many by resident architect Scott West, who explains the mod madness in the O4W is “not like Inman Park where someone’s going to be pissed off at you building a modern house next to a Victorian.”

Thanks to Modern Luxury and Felicia Feaster for the press. If you would like to read more of this issue click this link "The Atlantan" to view a pdf version of the magazine.

A few stories made an impression on me (let me know if you've heard any of this news...and what you think!):

1. At the Six Flags amusement park in Georgia, USA, a 17-year old boy climbed two fences that surrounded the perimeter of a roller-coaster ride.
   He went in there to get his hat or something...and the roller coaster hit him and decapitated him!
   I was shocked to read this...but, then again, I've read quite a few stories about tragedies at amusement parks. That's why I'm always hesitant to let my kids go to one with their friends (I let them go...but I'm always nervous about it).
2. Many countries are sending their Olympic teams to Japan to practice for the upcoming Olympics in 北京 (Beijing) rather than have them practice in 中国 (China).
   This is because, the newspaper said, many countries are concerned about air pollution, food safety, and political tension in China.
   Also, they said, Japan has good training facilities.
3. Tokyo is the largest city in the world. And it's the most densely populated (Tokyo has 36 million people...nearly double the population of New York City. There are more people in Tokyo than in all of Canada!)
   But, despite Tokyo's large population...this city was recently voted the third most livable city in the world by the London magazine Monocle!
   Copenhagen and Munich were voted first and second respectively...but those two cities have only just over one million people. Tokyo has nearly 36 times as many residents...but the magazine says Tokyo is "a big city getting the basics right".
   The link to the Monocle magazine's article is here (they require a paid subscription to read the entire article...but you can see the headline for free :( (whatever)).

because as of this morning, they were all taken down. I hope this doesn't mean that they have given up on finding the turtle:

because that would be very sad.

I am choosing to believe that they found the turtle strolling around the neighborhood, and he was absolutely fine. Judging by his fancy hat, I think the turtle was just out shopping for a new outfit. Maybe an evening ensemble:

Very fancy! Glad you made it back home, turtle.

Velvet Turtle image derived from a photo by Claudia on Picasa; Claudia, if you're reading this, I know I didn't ask permission to use your photo, but at least I gave you a photo credit, unlike this guy.

Brule is a contrarian, and he's smart about it. He seems to enjoy doing the exact opposite of conventional publishing wisdom with Monocle. It's not so much about Monocle's editorial direction - the writing, design or photos, which are all good. Brule's shrewedness shows up in his business model.

A summary of key features:

Distribution: The mag is thinly but widely distributed internationally, with 24 distributors listed on its website and magazines shipped to 79 countries. Bruele says it has 5,000 paid subscriptions with a "dream" circulation of 200,000. Not high. The Economist's circulation (probably the closest publication in terms of demographic targets) is 1.3 million a week.

Revenue structure: It costs more, not less, to buy a Monocle subscription. We are all familiar, thanks to those horrible little slips of paper stuck in magazine pages, that magazines always slash per-unit prices for subscriptions drastically, usually 50% or more. It costs US$10 an issue and US$150 for 12-issue subscription. Ballsy move.

Audience: Monocle is an international mag based in London. A curious choice, because, while a lot of great titles come out of London, few are global brands. The Americans have been much more interested in establishing a global presence, but they do so by localising titles. Think of Vogue Paris or Maxim Singapore. As mentioned earlier, the Economist is the model for Monocle here. The cranky old finance sheet refuses to localise itself, printing the exact same magazine for every market it's in (with rare concessions). Monocle does the same. The idea is that smart people everywhere are interested in basically the same things - or at least they ought to be.

Adding it all up: Essentially what Brule is betting on (and he says as much in the Mediabistro interview) is that readers are willing to bear the cost of a beautiful and smart product themselves, without subsidies from advertisers. This happens for loads of products everywhere in our consumer environment, and if you look at media habits, people already pay for cable or satellite, for example. Why should it be so hard to swallow for a magazine?

In the old days, a stack of paper printed regularly with ads interspersed between pages of content that people actually wanted to see was the most effective way of mode to expose ads to eyeballs. That is no longer the case. The internet, as various smart people have already noted, has unbundled content and advertising. But the old model created an unhealthy habit - publishers became fixated on serving and grabbing ad revenue instead of making readers aware of the true cost of the product they were consuming. Handouts from advertisers subsidised the market value of magazines and newspapers.

Much of the debate around the clash of journalism and the online world today centers around how the craft will change. But that debate was sparked by the pain publishers felt when their business models couldn't cope with the strain of the new medium. Yet, there has been little business-side innovation. (Howell Raines notes this in his Portfolio column: “No one goes to Wharton and says, ‘I want to run circulation at Knight-Ridder.’ ” In general, he adds, “the business side has let down the journalistic side of newspapers.”)

So Brule is doing something quite gutsy, but logical. You can't depend on advertisers for money anymore because they have other options. Readers are leaving because they have other options. You stay small, identify a group of readers with a narrow set of characteristics (global, affluent, predilection for trendiness) and give them what they want and can find nowhere else. Then you hope that your product is good enough, its words, pictures and layout are attractive enough, for this group to actually pay for it, without too much help from the incidental audience known as advertisers. (see also this rather long essay by Jay Rosen about the history of news business models - small readerships paying for niche information has been around since the 16th century, when rich Europeans employed letter-writers to keep up with gossip in faraway cities)

Monocle has a decent chance at success because it's following a path that others have trodden before. The FT and Economist, again, have thrived as their American rivals have downsized. They've done this by being relentlessly focused on their audience (see this nice analysis by Jon Fine).

The Monocle model for Malaysia: Can Monocle's business model be applied to Malaysia? What group of Malaysians would be willing to pay the full price for a certain package of content? More on this in the next post.

***

Thanks to John for kindly giving me a login here. My own blog was hacked, mysteriously, by apparenly Turkish hackers. I'll be writing about print media, particularly in the context of English-language Asia, most of the time here.

You may ask, "Manshion, what is a monocle and where do they come from?" Have no fear, reader. Wikipedia's going to tackle this beast of a question in flawless user-generated fashion.

A monocle is a type of corrective lens used to correct the vision in only one eye. It consists of a circular lens, generally with a wire ring around the circumference that can be attached to a string. The other end of the string is then connected to the wearer's clothing to avoid losing the monocle.

In this "rebirth of the dandy" state men's fashion currently enjoys, what better way to showcase one's gentlemanliness than by wearing a single corrective lens?

It's pure science, gents'... I say day in and day out, "minimize, consolidate, shave off weight, keep it classy, etc."

Let's scrap the formalities, though-- Cut the synonymous linguistics short, if you (I?) will.

Today, I am basically telling you cut and dry:

• Hack your prescription glasses in half
• Dismantle the sides
• Solder a chain to the remains of the hinge
• Shave down the excess trimmings to form but a single, quasi-circular rim
• Affix chain to your garment of choice
• Insert monocle and...
• Squint.
• Squint all day long.

What? Dare you not believe the word of manshion that monocles are the new shiz(s) on the block?

HA.

Any Questions.

(Notice I'm not even asking you that question, that's how few questions there should be.)

Where do you get such a dignified cycloptic status symbol?

Why, from this amazon queen pictured below, that's where.

Click this pre-internet hairdo'ed temptress for the link.

No more from manshion for the week, after my recent success in bringing back the monocle, I'll be kicking back, counting my profits from the sales commission eyeglass.com will be sending my way.

Key: Green - City I visited, Blue - City I wish to visit one day

Analysis
I'm surprised to see no mention of any east coast cities like Boston. Also there is a heavy gearing towards European cities but not totally without merit. Good to see Australia retained two spots within the list through Melbourne (#9) and Sydney (#11). With such survey, the devil is in the details (ranking methodology). My top concerns for these two cities to retain it's liveable status are the housing affordability and the state of public infrastructure.

Related link: A Singaporean reporter response to this listing (mypaper, SPH)
---
Monocle is my current fav mag read after I discovered it in Melbourne in Mar 08. The articles are original, well read and offers a diverse coverage within affairs, business, culture, design and excellent editoral (most important component to me). I also appreciate it's compact size and excellent colour print.

A truly well made magazine. Check out the distribution link to see if it is distributed in your country.

Click through to Flickr and rollover for more details.

Me l'ha fatta conoscere un amico attento al design (Marco M. che lavora in Alessi) e mi è subito piaciuta. Perché? Per vari motivi:

• carta spessa
• formato comodo da leggere e da conservare
• impaginazione raffinata
• foto e testi curati e inediti.

Monocle è una ventata di precisione e estetica: un ricostituente vitale per chi, come me, lavora nell'università italiana dove la sciatteria e l'imprecisione sono una nota dolente dilagante, non solo tra gli studenti.

Ti ho incuriosito? OK → sito web di Monocle.

I invited the immensely thoughtful Dan Hill, who was leading the design on BBC's and Monocle's web sites before joining Arup in Sydney. Dan writes amazingly dense blog posts on City of Sound and I tend to read them after work as I am otherwise not able to catch enough time or head space. My former St.Edmonds Lab fellow Dave King confesses to actually printing them out.

But enough of this intro, I am making him appear to be an über-bookworm while in fact Dan is a very inspiring and resourceful mind. Dan previews his talk with the following:

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Surfacing digital in physical: How data is changing our streets and cities

image of Melbourne by Wanderungen

The streets are now alive with data, invisible but all pervasive. Buildings can now talk to each other and virtually every object that comes within range, human or not. Given this new potential, how do we design better streets, better buildings? How should we see the street as a platform? What are the creative challenges now that we can make things talk?

We'll pause to consider the volume of data already immersing our streets, before moving on through a whirlwind global tour of best practice in:

* designing digital systems for physical spaces;
* interactive architecture and new materials in facades;
* sensing the digital traces left by people in cities;
* new wayfinding and transit systems;
* the interplay between mobile devices and streets

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I am sure the talk plus questions and discussion will be pretty inspiring for all of us. His post on how a game like GTA adds to the "visualization" of Los Angeles (just like Chinatown did as a movie) is definitely a good intro to Thursday's event.

image of GTA by Dan Hill

For those who would like to learn more about Dan's work on media design / webcasting, this is quite a treasure post on the design process and brand building at Monocle.com and this one documents the work on "re-inventing radio" at the BBC a couple of years earlier.

image of Monocle by Dan Hill

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Thanks.

What you have to do: Use the word of the day as many times as possible in conversation. All of the words will be very obscure. Also, here's The Salmon Dance by the Chemical Brothers. Very informative song.

Thanks.

• 10 Magazine
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The current issues are all available. Back issues are available, subject to availabilty. Any enquiries, please email me at meleow@gmail.com .

Selected magazines cover will be uploaded at a later period due to time constraints. Please always refer to the list for magazines available.
Last updated: 29th April 2008

I work as an editor for a Swedish magazine, I don't call myself a journalist, the work I do is strictly copy writing. It's sales, not culture. I'm selling products, not investigating them. The magazine is a lifestyle publication which basically means that it features many expensive watches and many small pieces about expensive hotels and restaurants. The magazine is driven by ad revenue but it doesn't compromise any of its content in any particular immoral ways. One of my favourite magazines, with its flaws and extreme liberal views is, no surprise, Monocle. It's main ingredient, and why I love it, is text. I love to read. Monocle offers a varied amount of well written articles and most of the times they depict a country or a tailor or whatever that I had little or no relationship to before. But in every issue there's always a few articles, or ads, that really makes me squirm of discomfort.

Call them adicles or as other call them advertorials. They are purely sponsored, written in a journalistic tone and claims an objectivity in the solely subjective marketing of a product, company or often in Monocle's case, country. Usually the company's little logo in the right bottom corner gives it away in the end, but sometimes it's completely disguised. Usually the best way to spot them is that you'll find them having no credited author.

Today I bought the latest issue of Monocle and another magazine, much talked about Man About Town, the second issue. Made by Swedish ad men, in the fashion industry it shows, what I think many magazines will be forced to do, how to completely erase the line between ads and articles. It's impossible to know what is written by journalists and what is written by copywriters. Fashion magazines has transgressed into a new field where there is no difference between catalogues and articles. It's fairly obvious with large multi page adverts from Dom Pérignon and Hermès followed by large articles about them 200 pages into the magazine. I had to shut the thing quickly of disgust.But isn't this how publications will finance themselves in the future, with blurred endorsing of products and articles about the advertisers. Is my small editorial pieces about nice watches OK simply because the watch company doesn't pay me? What's really the issue, that they make more money out of the same thing or that I claim some sort of "journalistic" integrity?

Each "bespoke" edition was designed with consideration to the distinct qualities of both print and web. So the design and content was tailored to be appropriate for the method of delivery. He is particularly proud of how each edition of the magazine respects the individual environment in which it sits, quoting architect Eliel Saarinen to emphasise the point:

"Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context - a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan."

A good maxim to design by. Where is your publication going to sit? What is its next largest context? How can you design it so that it is appropriate and comfortable in that environment?

I would like you all consider the image below too. This is the way that print publications keep track of their work. Thumbnail prints are stuck up on a wall so that everyone involved can quickly see the whole edition and where it is up to. I would ask you to do this with your publications please, it will really help you to see it as a whole publication rather than just a series of individual spreads.

Stories range from the latest in the travel and automotive industries, to retail, hotel and food trends. One recent video segment highlighted the frighteningly sophisticated world of video games in South Korea.

If your work inolves travel, or just collaborating with colleagues and partners from foreign lands, Monocle is a must. If your gig is strictly domestic, Monocle will show you what is likely to be hot here in the States in the not too distant future.