62. i-D MAGAZINE A TO Z OF WINK VIDEO

I love this as a piece of moving image, speedy cuts, musical rhythm, the use of colours, graphics and animation are, for me, totally on point. Starring 26 of the world's top models, it's a new video editorial for i-D Magazine directed by Jérémie Rozan of Surface to Air Studio.

59. BRITISH AIRWAYS MAGIC OF FLYING #LOOKUP

A digital billboard in Piccadilly Circus, this is British Airways' cute and clever new ad to promote their Magic Of Flying campaign. With basic GPS technology, the on-screen toddler points to the BA flight passing overhead in real-time with a child's typically innocent fascination, before revealing the actual flight number and destination of the plane in the sky. A cheeky reminder for passers-by weaving through the crowded streets and blocked-in traffic-strikken drivers that while they struggle with cold, repetitive, busy lives, some hundred people are on their way to Barcelona or Amsterdam – that's a fun sentiment, must have been a nice project (and good laugh) for the designers.

It ties in with the theme of hacking too (from DLP 2.2), demonstrating interpretation of data for interactivity.

57. MAGAZINE SPOTLIGHT: THE GREEN

Magazine Spotlight #04
The Green Soccer Journal www.thegreensoccerjournal.com

When issue number one arrived back in late 2010, I was so excited – a well-done magazine that addressed lifestyle and design in the context of football, or soccer as they have chosen to call. Recognising the diversity of football fans (which you must remember is without a shadow of a doubt the biggest sport in the country) and that we are not all pub-philic, beer-loving, foul-mouthed hooligans, the magazine presents a modern, mature outlook on the hot sport for a design-conscious audience (and indeed created by design-conscious, well, designers). So it was my perfect magazine and I felt that I represented the perfect readership.

I've purchased the first four issues, each of which highlights a theme to explore and includes valuable, journalistic interviews with some of the biggest names in football and accompanied by beautifully shot photography of unique perspectives away from the matchday furore. And it's very interesting to read, perhaps another good example of nailing an appropriately niche subject and doing it attractively.

However, it's not all good, because the writing and language was rather average, yet the price continued to go up from an initial £4 for Issue One to £8 for Issue Four, before doubling the latter for its current 'revamped' issue Number Five. And that's a bit too much for me and I've refused to purchase it. My intrigue is still very much there, I still want to pick up a copy and spend time with it, but I just think the price hike is too high, and certainly given the quality of what it's been thus far (which I reiterate wasn't at all bad, but fair at 5 or 6 pounds). They claim the magazine has taken a new, progressed direction with higher quality printing and denser issues, but I remain unconvinced. A £16 publication can't make grammatical errors in its own About passage, come on now. (I've underlined the childish error.)

The Green Soccer Journal is a biannual magazine that takes an innovative, cultured and intelligent approach to the worlds most popular sport. The publication includes an eclectic mix of football culture and is built on a passion for the game, something which is shared by all of our contributors.

Displayed in a creative, visually stimulating format, we have worked with some of our favourite photographers, and writers to create a title that offers an alternative view on all things football.

I don't disagree with its cultured and intelligent approach (not sure what innovation it's describing) but the second paragraph is frankly boring, just telling us it's superficially pretty – something I firmly believe, whilst of course important, should fruit naturally from its content and aims rather than an independent consideration point.

To summarise, it's a good magazine and one I would have (and have had) no qualms with, had it not called for higher scrutiny with its new price point, for which I do not think it sufficiently delivers. Shame.

48. MAGAZINE SPOTLIGHT: CAFFEINE

Magazine Spotlight #03

Caffeine www.caffeinemag.com

Available to pick up for free, Caffeine is the coffee lover's magazine, distributed to selected coffee shops around the country to serve as the 'stockists'. Of course it makes sense in terms of hitting the right readership and that is indeed how I found out about it. I've managed to collect issues 1 to 3 so far, with the current edition still eluding me.

Whilst short in relative terms of page count (probably aligning itself to the Stylist or Sport market) the content is presented with an air of expertise, finding the right, attractive quantity (and quality) of specificity. The publication includes journalistic articles, photography, reviews, essays and surveys to tell the Caffeine story and, really, provides everything you'd expect a 'coffee lover's magazine' to provide. Its advertising is smart and direct too, relevant for us the readers, spanning the likes of organic beans, espresso machines and coffee houses, all more helpful than irritating.

The magazine is a good example of narrowing into one specific subject and exploring the area in depth, with the challenge to present the specialist findings in a manner that is both appealing and amusing for all. Oh, and from spilling the beans to ground rules, I for one don't get bored of the cafe wordplay at all.

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

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.

39. APPLE MAKING THE MAC PRO

Nice video capturing the beauty of machinery and making. I'm biased slightly because I think this product is a stunning piece of design, but the video elegantly and almost romantically portrays its care and devotion to craft using the highest available tech. So I like it.

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

28. EVERYDAY EXCELLENCE BY PATTERNITY FOR COS

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'.

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

14. A SELECTION OF MUSIC VIDEOS

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.