Redesign!

I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for a redesign. So this week, when I came across the new (and smaller--but we'll get to that in a sec) NY Times Magazine, I devoured it.

First: According to the editor's letter, it's 9% smaller. Just enough to notice. What I don't like was the reasoning behind the size change: paper costs. Really, NY Times Magazine? It couldn't be about paper costs AND the environment? Just a little bit?

Second: "The cut in trim size does not mean there is 9 percent less room on every page for words and pictures." Can we say, new--condensed--font? Introducing Lyon Text:



Also? New display typeface Knockout and Nyte. New, brighter color palette. New design elements and TOC. The addition of KenKen to the puzzle page (Oh, alright, I really don't care about that one--I haven't quite caught onto KenKen just yet). And now, finally, The Way We Eat added to the front-of-the-magazine section, The Way We Live Now.

I really liked the old design of the magazine--so I haven't quite formed my opinion of this redesign quite yet. I do like the addition of the witty illustrations at the tops of the pages; however I'm not 100% sold on the new font. In time, I suppose...

Yummy, yummy print

I am in love with FPO--For Print Only--a new site from Under Consideration. I think they say it best:

FPO is a blog dedicated to both the visual stimulus and the detailing of the development and production of printed matter... The content of FPO will be gathered by submissions from our readers as well as by the findings we make online. We will do our best to show the most recent work produced, so that the blog doesn't feel like you have seen everything before. Whenever possible we will have the full scope of production details and project overview but we will also post projects where we are unable to gather all that information when we think they are worth sharing despite the lack of minutia.

Jessica Hische Business Cards

The work featured thus far is so inspiring, so beautiful. I love that they are trying to feature all the specs: production costs and time, printer credits, etc. It's nice to see beautiful work, even nicer to see how long it took, how much it cost, and--of course--giving credit to all those involved in the process, not just the designer (because even though we designers rock, printed work doesn't happen without the, er, printer).

Stop by FPO and drink up some lovely printed work. Because print is SO not dead.