xBlog: The visual thinking weblog
9th August 2007

the illustrated brand

“There have a few interesting articles recently that have focused on the design of the New Yorker magazine, both praising and critiquing its consistency, and mainly taking issue with the inside of the magazine, but what is taken as a given by both is the very central role illustration has in that design, particularly in its striking covers. Made all the more striking of course as today there is so little use of illustration so central to a magazine’s brand image…

Over time however the ‘Poster Cover’ and its defenders in the magazine’s Art rooms began to slowly lose favor to the philosophy of ‘cover lines‘ and what would begin as a whole new direction in magazine cover design. This I think can also be seen as a sure sign of the rising influence of marketeers and advertising suits within a magazine’s boardroom and the increased marginalization of its art department’s influence. The magazine cover had become in many cases no more than a grotesquely enlarged small ad.” (Thanks Design Observer!)

posted in Graphic design, Old media | Permalink | Comments Off

9th August 2007

Useful Photography

A magazine made up of found photos, made even more interesting by theming the issues. Nice.

posted in Logos/Symbols, Photography | Permalink | Comments Off

9th August 2007

Analytics According to Captain Kirk

“In my seminars, I enjoy teaching analytics because the fun is in finding effective and memorable methods to help people understand the concepts. One of my favorites is an analysis of the Red-Shirt Phenomenon in Star Trek.

What? You don’t know about the Red Shirt Phenomenon? Well, as any die-hard Trekkie knows, if you are wearing a red shirt and beam to the planet with Captain Kirk, you’re gonna die. That’s the common thinking, but I decided to put this to the test. After all, I hadn’t seen any definitive proof; it’s just what people said. (Remind you of your current web analytics strategy?) So, let’s set our phasers on ’stun’ and see what we find… “

posted in Information graphics, Movies/TV | Permalink | Comments Off