John Updike – Rabbit Run
Seth Godin – Small is the New Big
Jean-Paul Sartre – Nausea
George Plimpton – Paper Lion
Stewart Pinkerton – The Fall of the House of Forbes
Masha Gessen – The Man Without A Face
Note: The Nausea cover was used as an inspiration for an article opener (below) in the April issue of Open Skies about the man-eating lions of Tsavo. Thanks to Roui Francisco for the execution.
The April ‘Animals’ issue of Open Skies is on board now. Probably the most innovative cover we have done, as we got it shot by Aled Lewis, whose style is unique. Next month: The Underground issue.
Very brave to print the same George Lois 1968 cover in the latest Spanish Esquire. But then, the Spanish (and Russian) version of the magazine are always brave and brilliant with their cover execution.
We are getting some web love regarding the February cover of Open Skies, which is all the more gratifying given it’s the first cover we have done in-house. The process was as follows: I started off wanting to use a particular type of yellow as we had not used it before on the cover (and the last time we used yellow at all was in issue one back in March last year). This is the first time I have started the cover process with a colour, but I was determined to make this shade of yellow work.
There are two types of covers you can have with a themed issue (as all our issues are). A cover that relates to the general theme of the issue (see here) or one that focuses on a specific article within the issue (see here). Most of our covers focus on the general theme – as we are not on the news stand, we don’t have to rely on multiple cover lines to grab attention, and if you focus on one feature on the cover, you will need a cover line.
For this issue, I wanted to do something different – to focus on some of the features inside the issue without being too explicit about those features. So, inspired by the buttons on the Sony Playstation handset, I asked Roui (our ace designer) to come up with some logos. The DeLorean car was easy, the Super Mario Bros. icon was also self evident. For the Silicon Valley piece, we went with a retro Apple Mac, and the final logo is from the design of the Tim Ferriss piece, which happened pretty late in the day.
Roui then added a filter to the icons to give them a slightly retro look (nothing worse than a tech cover full of shine and ‘newness’) and placed them on the page. I like to keep things minimal whenever possible, and so shrunk the icons and added a no-fuss/no serif font. It is tempting to be too clever on the cover page when it comes to the cover line, so we kept it simple: The Technology Issue. We had few other options we sent to Emirates, but they also preferred this version.
And there it is, one of the best parts of the job, choosing a cover. Next month (Our London issue) will see us doing something completely different again. Stay tuned.
For every article praising Tyler Brule, there is one criticizing him. It’s not hard to see why – his persona is based on exclusivity, not something that plays well in the current economic climate. Yet it’s because of the current economic situation that Brule should be applauded. His success in creating Monocle and more recently, his launch of the Monocle 24 radio station is remarkable. In a shaky print market, he has put premium content to the forefront and demonstrated why quality print is still relevant. I just picked up the latest issue of Monocle and its brilliant – a mix of style, politics, design and reportage. The world needs more magazines like Monocle, and more entrepreneurs like Tyler Brule.
The Wndr Kabul mobile app is nearly ready – it’s the first mobile application guide to Kabul. It’s free, so download it at: www.wndrkabul.com or if you are an Android user, download here. There is still lots of content to be uploaded, which will be a continuous process over the coming months. We have a Facebook page and a Twitter account, so let us know what you think.
In my quest for new content, found this remarkable video. Showcases some of the stunning scenery the country has to offer. Planning a trip back there later this year, possibly to Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat.
Coverjunkie has released a magazine featuring some of the best magazine covers of 2011. My
favourite was this brilliant New York Times Magazine cover – simple but beautiful. Last year
saw a lot of excellent covers and a rise in the overall standard of magazines and their design. I
think this probably had to do with the iPad and the belief that if print is to continue, it needs to
play to its strengths. This bodes well for 2012. Wndr will be bringing out some print products of
our own in the next three months, so stay tuned.
Open Skies managed to achieve the SPD cover of the day this week – for Mitch Blunt‘s typographic treatment of an extract from Eric Newby’s A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush.
This is my favourite issue yet in terms of the design of the features, it is certainly the most consistent, and looking forward to the Japan issue next month.
Just about to head to the airport – taking Open Skies on the road for a week where we will be inviting some of Japan’s best illustrators to help us create the Japan issue. All the original work will be auctioned in November with the proceeds going to the Japanese Red Cross. Follow us here.
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