Beyond Typography

Who let the dog out?

Time Inc has taken the LoveFilm/NetFlix model as a basis for its new venture: MagHound. The MagHound website claims that you can get all your magazines, not just Time Incs, for one low monthly price. 

Apparently you can change your magazine selections at any time. So will this be cheaper than a standard subscription? And what will happen to subscription rates? Will the expensive titles be the same price as the cheaper ones? Click here to find out more.

Via Magtastic Blogsplosion. 

Going Bananas!

Good news! It's Tuesday and it's not raining!

Actually, that's not the good news: The good news is that The Banana Splits are making a comeback. Now that's probably not news to people in the US, but the fact that BBC news are running the story makes you wonder if it will be appearing on the BBC soon – they used to show it all those years ago. It had that psychedelic logo which was "stolen" by Ben & Jerry's (includes interview with Bingo). 

The classic children's tv show had the memorable theme tune, The Tra La La Song, which always used to echo around the corridors at school. Although it seems a bit tame compared with the better version by the Dickies – see below and play loud!

Monday

Keri Smith is an author/illustrator turned guerilla artist. She has a developed an Artists Survival Kit to help you get through those really crap days. It works just as well for designers, just replace all instances of the word artist or art with designer or design.

Via Debbie Millman

Technorati Profile

patterntap.com – inspiration for web design

Pattern Tap is a where you can get inspiration for web design. It's organised into collections of elements that go to make a complete website, from articles and backgrounds to buttons and 404 pages. Fanstastic.

Via Swiss Miss.

Healthy variations

When I tell people that I'm a magazine designer, their first response is "Wow!" The second is usually "Anything I might've seen?"

The third question happens after they think about it. "So, what does that mean?" I tell them, very briefly, that basically it means decided which pictures to use and where to place them and what size, where the copy will flow and how the headline will be treated, while making sure it all conforms to the magazine style.

 

On a weekly, this is usually under pressure. A few variations are usually produced before a layout is settled upon. Watch the video below and enjoy the many variations of a feature story on Chinese food for the September 2008 issue of Men’s Health magazine. I'm not sure how many people worked on the layouts or the timescale. 

The Empire Poster Quiz

Can you guess all the film from just one letter? The Empire Poster Quiz.

Via Swiss Miss.

Tuesday Inspiration

What is it with Tuesdays? Blah! Rain, rain, rain, work, rain, lotsa work, more rain. But luckily an old friend emailed me the vid below.

Joshua Allen Harris produces street art made from plastic bags that are attached to the grills in the road over the New York Subway. The rush of air fromt he trains below inflates the bags into the monsters that he created. It's amazing what people can think of.

 

I'd like to see him produce a fluorescent devil version and install it late on a Friday or Saturday night. When the bars close it could be amusing to watch the responses from people who've had maybe one too many to drink!

Thanks Nick!

A picture is worth a thousand words

WOW! Saw a link in the latest Creative Review for Wordle.

Wordle is a java applet created by Jonathan Feinberg, a senior software engineer at IBM Research. it creates “word clouds” from any text that is entered. The images created using Wordle are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license, so can be used commercially. You can print the images or save them onto the constantly updating gallery.

By the way, the image above made from last week’s posts.

Monkey Magic

If you remember the series on BBC tv back in the ’80s called Monkey, then you'll love the BBC sports trailer for the Beijing Olympics. Illustrated by Jamie Hewlett, the co-creator (with Alan Martin) of Tank Girl and the illustrator of the Gorillaz. The music is by Damon Albarn, also of Gorillaz fame.

There's more at the BBC’s Monkey Olympics site.

Via CR blog.

Olympic designs

 

Well, the Olympics Games open in Beijing tomorrow. The opening and closing ceremonies have been designed by Zhang Yimou, the Beijing Olympics Committee art director. He is the outstanding film director who made Hero and House of Flying Daggers, amongst other things.

A raft of high-profile designs will be rolled-out as companies try to maximise exposure to the global audience.

Here is an interactive graphic about the evolution of the Olympic torch.

Have a good day.