47. CAT PEOPLE MAGAZINE

Newly released is the magazine to serve our feline fetishes, Cat People. The bilingual publication from Melbourne just unveiled Issue One to the world, filled with interviews, photography and documentation from cat lovers across the globe. I'm probably more fascinated to see how, if at all, this magazine can develop and progress over its future issues as I myself can only see a limited number of responses and content – basically we all love cats. I'd certainly like to get my hands on a copy though. I do like cats...

>> Visit the Cat People homepage

45. LIVESURFACE CONTEXT

A quick, accurate, high quality visualisation of 3D rendering, LiveSurface Context is brilliant. It's an application (Illustrator add-on) allows for conceptual mock-ups for flat graphics to physical situations, for example a magazine cover to an actual magazine or a banner to a shopfront – instantly. Super timesaver.

>> Read on Creative Review's blog
>> Find out more on LiveSurface's homepage

42. MAGAZINE SPOTLIGHT: MONOCLE

Magazine Spotlight #02
Monocle www.monocle.com

"Keeping an eye on the world" since 2007, Monocle was launched by the man behind Wallpaper magazine, Tyler Brûlé. It's the one title I am a paid subscriber for, accepting their package of 10 issues + 2 papers + 1 tote bag + full online archive access + event invitations for an annual fee of £90. That price is actually more than what the cost of buying individual copies at the newsstand would be – a challenge to the standard pricing model where in-advance batch subscriptions tend to be better value. This is explained in the confidence placed on their services, a subscription being more than just a sales contract but as an act of buying into the brand. And Monocle's branding is one of the most complete around.

In partnership with sister design studio Winkreative, Monocle has rapidly achieved an iconic status of design and presence. The magazine aims to pioneer the ever-changing print and journalism industries, priding themselves with dense, in-depth and carefully selected content covering what they have identified as today's most relevant topics in affairs, business, culture and design (following a beautifully effective logic of ABCD). Significantly rooted across all parts of the world with offices, correspondents and sources, the work is assured to be genuine and unique, and certainly doesn't lack in quantity either as issue after issue they deliver seemingly larger, book-ish documents that I've currently collected the past 23 of.

Monocle has from the beginning laid out its version of aspirations and represents a high quality lifestyle in collaboration with their readership, and in recent years the company has expanded and ventured into radio broadcasting, physical shops and cafés to supplement the paper product and emphasise their values. Each outlet offers a different, yet equally asset of the brand and has proven to be a fine example of changing the relationship with its followers and the expectations for what a magazine title provides. At the very least, it's a successful challenge on what the relatively static print culture had been in the past couple of decades. Now, six years down the line, the format remains unchanged in its aesthetic design, which clearly reflects said aspirations and framework, using a sure template filled with beautiful first-hand photography and a masterful combination of Plantin and Helvetica.

It's a publication I constantly have much to take and learn from, in all aspects of its venture and one that has no doubt inspired my joy for the revival of print media.

40. NOTES FROM THE MODERN MAGAZINE CONFERENCE

>> http://magculture.com/blog/?p=19333

Key reference link from the conference I introduced last week.

37. PUMA GAFFER FONT

The gaffer tape workshops reminded me and got us talking about Puma's renowned football typography made out of gaffer tape. "Gaffer", designed with GBH and digitised by Dalton Maag, started out as an experimentation of folds and angles using 150 rolls of gaffer tape, selecting the material for representing its global accessibility and to capture "raw, passionate enthusiasm" in football across all levels – Make Football Anywhere. It's very neat, and is still used today by select clubs like BVB Dortmund.

> Read about it on Designboom here.
> Read about it on It's Nice That here.

32. HONDA AN IMPOSSIBLE MADE POSSIBLE

I posted this on tlee. Black today and I've included the making video for it here. It's a new ad by Honda, who are notoriously good when making video advertisements, this time for the CR-V 1.6 Diesel and its fuel efficiency. It's another superb example of how video design can create distorted truths (as I've mentioned before), although this particular case demonstrates a rather literal translation of that using optical illusions and false realities with perspective play. Truly making what seems impossible possible.

>> Visit the original entry on tlee. Black

31. MODERN MAGAZINE CONFERENCE ON MONOCLE THE STACK

> http://monocle.com/radio/shows/the-stack/60/

It was the Modern Magazine Conference on Wednesday this week, an event organised by MagCulture's Jeremy Leslie to celebrate the print publication industry. I wish I'd been there, and I really feel like I should have, but priced at £140 I opted not to. Still not sure if I'll live to regret it or not. It's a conference with speakers curated from the most successful, forward-thinking titles around including Monocle's Tyler Brûlé, Apartamento's Omar Sosa, Bloomberg Businessweek's Richard Turley, the list goes on. And the event was so attractive because it's a focussed gathering for optimism in the paper form with insightful discussions and talks on how strong the industry is and can be. Leslie says many of these kind of conferences tend to be defensive over print, but this is an event of celebration.

Monocle 24 hosts a weekly show specifically about print and in today's edition, episode 60, they cover the conference and so it's a good listen.

27. MAGAZINE SPOTLIGHT: OFFSCREEN

Magazine Spotlight #1
Offscreen www.offscreenmag.com

First up in my spotlight series of good publications is Offscreen, a magazine exploring the people behind websites and apps – a smart concept looking at the offscreen lives of those who are behind the work we see on screen as well as more literally being behind screens all day for a living. I'm no coding enthusiast nor app developer, but it's still really interesting to be presented with how these people operate and to hear their outlooks on the broader notion of design and lifestyle.

Originally a web designer by trade, Kai Brach launched the first issue of Offscreen in early 2012. Feeling disconnected by the fast pace and the ephemeral nature of the digital world, after ten years of freelance work Kai wanted to create something more tangible. With Offscreen Magazine, he combines both his love for technology and the web, and the unique experience of printed magazines.

In the span of three months, Kai "converted" from a UI designer to an editorial art director, not only publishing and editing Offscreen but also designing the magazine from the ground up. As such, Offscreen is still a one-man operation, and a proudly authentic indie magazine supported by amazing contributors and curious readers. Kai hopes to reinvigorate printed magazines as a choice of media that provides a welcome break from our always-on society.

The words here, extracted from Offscreen's own About page, are eloquently put and provides a perfect introduction to the project's aims and purpose, which resonate with my feelings towards print as both an industry and as a reader who can appreciate good content. Printed magazines being a "unique experience" is vital to note, as an experience I am eager to find in its creation as well as the experience I feel as a reader. I think that Offscreen's statement of intent or self-instigated value is well communicated and on point for fitting into our lifestyle. It's therefore one of my favourite publications in the market, and has thus found itself first in my series of upcoming 'spotlights'.

20. THIS

This arrived in the post along with my magazine subscription today, the Christmas Collection booklet by Monocle. I've done a couple of booklets for Victate, the layout and content of which I'm greatly satisfied with, but the final print has been lacking in my opinion. This, however, is absolute perfection. This little booklet is precisely what I want to recreate in form and weight. I'm not sure what paper type it is but I'm sure it's some sort of wove paper and its heavy weight just adds to the texture – it's goodness objectified.

19. A SELECTION OF MAGAZINE TITLES

Over the coming days and weeks, I'd like to spotlight some magazine titles that have been influential in my love for the media. I'm an avid reader of the recent rise in niche offerings and in the last couple of years, I've accumulated a decent selection of examples that is worthy of exploring and sharing. For now, here are some of the picks.

Monocle www.monocle.com
Apartamento www.apartamentomagazine.com
Offscreen www.offscreenmag.com
Kinfolk www.kinfolk.com
Printed Pages www.printedpagesmagazine.com
The Green Soccer Journal www.thegreensoccerjournal.com

18. SIGUR ROS VALTARI MYSTERY FILM EXPERIMENT

This is a series of moving image work to accompany songs by Sigur Rós for their album "Valtari". It's a lovely concept where select artists and directors were each given the same small budget to work with and no further instruction. They were allowed to make whatever they felt appropriate choosing a song off the record. There are 16 in total and they are all beautiful.

Sigur Rós gave fourteen film makers the same modest budget and asked them to create whatever comes into their head when they listen to songs from the band's album Valtari. The idea is to bypass the usual artistic approval process and allow people utmost creative freedom.

"We never meant our music to come with a pre-programmed emotional response. We don’t want to tell anyone how to feel and what to take from it. With the films, we have literally no idea what the directors are going to come back with. None of them know what the others are doing, so hopefully it will be interesting." – Sigur Rós, May 2012

The way that video can so powerfully move one's emotions and also its ability to enrich what is already superb music are attributes that I just love about the medium. The creative potential is huge and often the result can be so mesmerising. I've ordered a new camera for myself, with which I hope to recreate these qualities over time and really learn its art. The full kit should arrive next week and I'm very excited.

My favourite from the Sigur Rós series is the one below, a short film by Floria Sigismondi entitled "Leaning Towards Solace", using two of my favourite tracks on the LP. I don't think my brain is yet trained to justly critique moving image, but there's something about the cinematography and storytelling here that is so so beautiful to me. It's a film that blends the realms of art and design for sure, but it's executed so charmingly. If I made this 12 minute film for my Year 3 project, I'd be delighted.



> Read more on the project and Sigur Rós at tlee. Black
>> Visit the official Valtari Mystery Film Experiment website
>> Watch all the videos on Vimeo

16. FOOTBALL TYPE

A wonderful example of merging separate interests into one project, Rick Banks has just launched a book exploring typography in football. Interests that I too happen to share, as well as printed publications of course, I bought myself a copy and it's arrived.

For this early part of the project, as we each try to pinpoint our own goal, we've been allowed to explore several interests independent to one another, all in the hope of finding something worthy or finding a valuable relationship between two or more of these interests. Print, video, music, typography, football – all interesting to me.

> Read more about the book on tlee. Black

11. PAINT ON A SPEAKER AT 2500fps

Neither the art of slow motion nor the motion of molecules effected by vibration waves are news to anybody. But its intrigue remains valid without question. These guys decided to observe the effect of paint on a set of perfectly good speakers and, whilst totally predictable, the results are stunning. A really beautiful sequence of events, shot so crisp and clear, it's quite breathtaking to watch the natural patterns of waves in which the molecules move and clash with each other. And a great use of video at that.

9. A JFC MOVIE

My love for video really started in 2011 when I made the first Movie for the football club at which I work, JFC. There we deliver coaching sessions to kids aged 4-15 (the very place I learnt how to kick a ball) and our activity includes seasonal trips and tours. In Christmas time of 2010, we visited the Emirates Stadium for a stadium tour with some of the boys, but the story is that we lost all the data for the day's photographs which were of course important to us for documenting the event. One of the Coaches though was recording proceedings on a little Handycam and I volunteered to convert the footage into a short video. With brief hits of happy faces and nice music, it somehow did more than what the photographs would have achieved. It's difficult to pinpoint but there's certainly a more significant emotional journey and better picture of the atmosphere, particularly for those who weren't there (ie. the parents and other members who didn't participate – brilliant).

Since then, I've made 10 JFC Movies ranging from 3-minute shorts to 20-minute features. I don't classify my work here as part of my design work per say, but it is probably fair to say that it's a work of design in its own right. The brief is clear, the creative opportunity is vast and the skills are relevant. I think what I love about the medium is that even the most mundane footage can be transformed into a moment of beauty by simple editing, whether it be the adapted context or the musical factor. I find great joy from it and it's all the more satisfying to know that these make a permanent showcase of wonderful memories for everyone involved. I would have loved to be able to keep my childhood experiences alive and accessible on demand.

Below, I've attached three videos that show an interesting variety of the kind of videos and indeed kind of trips that we've done: a stadium sleepover, a summer camping trip to the countryside and a cold season activity camp.You can watch any one you like but I promise you you won't be able to resist smiling throughout. And I love that.







>> Find all the Movies available to watch on JFC's Vimeo page.

4. DESIGN IT YOURSELF

This is a talk given by Kate Moross at Here 2013 for It's Nice That back in June this year.

Stay motivated, stop asking others for what is readily available for you to do yourself, and bullshit improvise your way to success. These are essentially the take-home messages from her 30 minute lecture, and it's very hard to disagree. I've spent the first two years of my degree trying to get to grips with the concept of design and I am convinced that the best way to learn is to do, that experience trumps everything else. It's been the case for my own work so far, not bringing much technical ability with me at the start of the programme but I can confidently say I've picked up certain skills and that's thanks to experimenting and doing (you and I both know Goldsmiths don't directly teach much in the way of technical nous).

With today's internet culture, thanks to Google, YouTube tutorials and all, anyone can pretty much start to learn anything. The only barrier is whether you want to or not, right? It certainly did me well over my placement last term. "You have everything in front of you to find the answer, don't be so lazy." Kate also touches upon the notion of 'hacking', a topic I looked into extensively as part of Year 2. I'll look into the archives for that again later.

Oh and Limewire... what a throwback that is.

> Read the original article on It's Nice That here.

3. PINS

I've been using Pinterest for about a year now and it's great. Used for my design work, wishlists and general aspirations, it's the perfect tool for quickly organising visual references. Such is the sheer quantity and speed at which the internet churns out 'stuff', Pinterest helps keep track of what's valuable.

There are a couple of key Boards on there that are directly and frequently relied upon: Cool Design, Fine Print and Product Reference in particular.

> View my Boards and Pins on Pinterest.