steven.vu

The Independent relaunch; a party ‘free from party political ties’ and ‘free from proprietorial influence’

I love newspapers. Personally I read the Guardian, not because of any political leanings, but more for the format. I can’t get enough of the Berliner format and their Egyptian slab serif font, aptly named, “Guardian,” which was designed by non other than Christian Schwartz.

When the Independent have their typographic wet dreams on the front page, I sometimes flit over to them. I’m easy like that.

Things have gotten slightly more difficult with the Independent relaunch though. They’ve included a “Viewspaper,” for opinionated commentary and an ironicly named sombre font called “sun.” They’ve also gone all Web 2.0 on us, with a bloody twitter page, facebook fan page, iPhone app and Chrome extension. Isn’t RSS enough?

People are pretty split over the new design. It’s pretty similar to what happaned with the Guardian in 2005.

At the time, the Independent had this to say:

It is the masthead that grates most of all. Gone is the Garamond (which was intended to signal stylish features) and the Helvetica (hard news) and in their place is a blue and white logo in a font dubbed “Guardian Egyptian”. Hillman says the new look reminds him of “cheap newspapers and freebies”. – Why the new Berliner gives me the blues

The Guardian, this time round, seemed to pat Indy on the back. How nice. Michael Crozier, who redesigned the Indy a few of times, in 1986, 1993 and 1998 wasn’t as pleased:

In the redesigned, re-configured, paper news seems once again to have taken a backwards step – it’s comment and opinion all the way with the new 20-page pull-out Viewspaper section.

Time will tell whether it was a wise move.

My parents actually read the Daily Mail, which strikes some as odd – seeing as they’re immigrants – but the answers pretty obvious. It straddles the middle ground between the bare bosoms of the sun and the terse dense script of any sensible paper. It’s all about the 8 words per line average you see.

The relaunch ties in neatly with the Murdoch’s bitching and whining that they backed the wrong horse. The Kill Klegg campaign wasn’t working and after the Independent accused them of rigging the election, team Murdoch apparently stormed into the Independent and had a row. The rows were over these excellent viral adverts. They should buy some space on the TV and plaster billboards with them.

Meals from Scratch | Good design and concept.

I was over at Londonelicious and saw a post about Scratch. They’re taking a new spin on ready made meals. Ready made meals you have to cook. The idea seems new, and something that could work. I can’t remember the number of times where I’ve wanted to cook from scratch, but can’t be bothered to find a recipe and then search for small quantities of every single ingredient.

Currently they’re selling meals for one, personally I think they should sell portions of two that one can eat. Even if I was eating by myself, when I cool I like my leftovers. Why wash up for a couple of mouthfuls.

They’re currently selling at Sourced Market in Kings Cross St Pancras station, Budgens Islington, the Grocery in Shoreditch 54-56 Kingsland Road, Couture Food Hall in Woolwich Arsenal, Kennards in Bloomsbury and finally Selfridges on Oxford Street.

I can’t wait to get my hands on one and see if they’re any good. Problem is I don’t think I’ll be in central for a while.

The design seems spot on. Simple typography, Helvetica, in two spot colours printed on unbleached, uncoated recycled paper stock. Slightly done to death, but still adorable.

The guys seem young and ambitious. I wish them the best. I can’t imaging the hassle it must take to source the ingredients and get it packaged and delivered for a profitable price.

The “Osterizer”

While everyone was happily blogging away at the Election, Steven placed the “Osterizer”, on Hi and told Scotty to put it in pulse. The Machine whirred into life like a 747 and diced the contents into a gloopy mush.

I’d like to welcome you all to a machine that predates me and makes the Jetsons look hip again. I just love the design of this thing, it’s made pretty much solidly from glass and metal with plastic that has proudly dated. The settings include, On, Off, Pulse and how fast you want the motor to rev. Simplicity itself.

The perfect shake i’ve found has to be Avacado. It’s an odd fruit to shake but the taste is quite something. I’d suggest using your gold label milk for this and add plenty of brown sugar. The concoction is a nice shade of pale green.

For another picture of the Osterizer and its portrayal of the long forgotten rules of design, click Continue reading…