 |
Letters Eye 65
Monocle and the Eye spine riddle, Factory, Double decade
The mote in our own eye
From Matt Dawson
I’ve purchased a few Monocle issues in a sort of tongue-in-cheek way, since it looks like a pretty well put together, pretentious ‘current affairs’ rag. In short, it has vaguely entertained me with its ludicrously expensive Swiss watch ads, articles about the development woes of multi-nationals, and rubbish fashion for high-flyers.
Rick Poynor’s Critique article, ‘Comfortably numb’ (Eye no. 64 vol. 16), is very true. The sort of person it seems to be aiming at, and the ridiculous methods in which it has chosen to do so are mind-boggling.
It is neatly presented, though. Even though the magazine is not dynamic, the photography is mediocre and the words are dry and numb, I like the paper, I like the regimented layout and I like the silly product placement of Monocle brand accessories in the manga insert. I laugh at the pretentious articles and I put it down to feeling good that I paid only five pounds for this mildly entertaining mag.
The review suggests that Monocle may be myopic, but Eye failed to notice that the date is incorrect on this issue’s spine before sending it to print. I can’t help but feel that for Eye’s high cover price, its elite editorial and design team should be able to afford the Critique’s suggested ‘good pair of glasses’. Interesting, all the same.
Bristol
The riddle of the spine
From John Hubbard
Just a quick note of praise for the new issue of Eye. I just spent three days attending The Society of Typographic Aficionados 2007 conference, fortunately held in Seattle, so to go to the newsstand and find that issue 64 of Eye is a Typography issue is, well . . . great!
I am curious to know what happened on the spine. Every issue I have been able to find has a small amount of text (just after the word ‘Summer’) blacked out with a marker.
Seattle
The editor replies: ‘There’s no getting around it – the spine of the Summer issue contained a literal; a Helvetica Rounded Bold ‘6’ where there should have been a ‘7’. Otherwise known as an error, a typo, disinformation, mistake, porkie pie or the destabilising introduction of ambiguity into a formerly sacrosanct world of accuracy and reliability. Though I guess nobody would set their alarm clock by Eye. Subscribers will have seen this horror for themselves, but newsstand buyers were protected by the speedy application of a black marker pen, thus creating the special, limited-edition version of Eye 64 described by John Hubbard. Apologies.’
Factory production lines
From Rod Clark
I take issue with the first paragraph of Anna Gerber’s review, ‘8vo: On the Outside’ (Eye no. 59, vol. 15). She doubly misleads the reader and fails noticeably to really define the context, prevailing design group mentality, and real impetus behind the formation of 8vo.
I shared a flat with 8vo’s Simon Johnston at the time – and the first Factory records sleeves were produced ‘on the kitchen table’. Gerber states that 8vo formed with an ‘idea-driven approach’, and at a time when ‘style was to the fore’ in the shape of the triumvirate of Brody / Garrett / Saville. This is simply not the case. Their railing was not against the few designers who were treating the public to the re-worked design ideas of the earlier part of the century and calling it new – and at least these practitioners had some interest in typographic quality. No, their problem was exactly with the sort of ‘idea-driven’ design that came from the majority of design groups in London at the time: image-led heritage-graphics concepts for crisp packets, and the use of quirky, clever illustration rather than robust design elements and clear communication.
Having said that, the rest of the review is quite readable.
Brighton
Editor’s note. As we went to press, news came of the death of Factory Records founder Anthony Wilson.
Double decode
From Johannes Bergerhausen
Thank you very much for the publication of the in-depth interview about Decodeunicode in Eye 64. We received some nice feedback from the US, Portugal and Australia.
Our ‘unique visitors’ statistic has nearly doubled since the publication of the article, and a font distributor has now proposed supporting our project. In July, we had more than 200,000 unique visitors.
Cologne |
|
