Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Monocle: One Eyed Jack
I should have written something about Monocle straight after buying the first issue in March, but somehow I just couldn't muster up the energy.
Too late now because 'Ian' has said just about everything that I would have said in this blog entry.
In some ways Monocle is a brave venture (I salute anyone who starts a magazine and this print/online project is nothing if not ambitious) but it also illustrates many of the pitfalls which people less experienced than Tyler Brule make when they launch. The editor's letter in the first issue made it clear who the target reader was but the magazine itself was much less focused, too bitty, too incoherent overall.
Lousy photography too. If you're aiming at design conscious trendsters then you need to be right on top of the images but too many of the pix in issue 1 were dull townscapes (funny how many towns look the same when photographed from a high rise hotel bedroom window) with colour casts and really boring compositions. The captions were even duller.
And my dear, the product placement. Ian comments quite scathingly on the Manga cartoon, which I thought was OK and a possible reason to buy the next issue, but the very obvious placement of an Audi TT and the new Prada phone (coincidentally also featured in the 'fashion briefing', so you could compare the photo and the drawing – very lifelike) was extremely off-putting. Likewise the editorial choice of a Skeppshult bicycle to do some sightseeing/shopping in Lisbon and my goodness what's this on page 178? A full colour advert for the very same brand.
To be fair I found interesting material in between the fluff but not enough to motivate me to make another £5 purchase.
What Monocle reminded me of more than anything was James Brown's brave new venture after loaded, the pocket-size Jack. Charismatic editor with a certain reputation and one successful launch behind him? Check. Small format? Check. "Different" content? Check. Not quite all there? Check.
I doubt, however, that Felix Dennis will come to the (short lived) rescue of this one.
Too late now because 'Ian' has said just about everything that I would have said in this blog entry.
In some ways Monocle is a brave venture (I salute anyone who starts a magazine and this print/online project is nothing if not ambitious) but it also illustrates many of the pitfalls which people less experienced than Tyler Brule make when they launch. The editor's letter in the first issue made it clear who the target reader was but the magazine itself was much less focused, too bitty, too incoherent overall.
Lousy photography too. If you're aiming at design conscious trendsters then you need to be right on top of the images but too many of the pix in issue 1 were dull townscapes (funny how many towns look the same when photographed from a high rise hotel bedroom window) with colour casts and really boring compositions. The captions were even duller.
And my dear, the product placement. Ian comments quite scathingly on the Manga cartoon, which I thought was OK and a possible reason to buy the next issue, but the very obvious placement of an Audi TT and the new Prada phone (coincidentally also featured in the 'fashion briefing', so you could compare the photo and the drawing – very lifelike) was extremely off-putting. Likewise the editorial choice of a Skeppshult bicycle to do some sightseeing/shopping in Lisbon and my goodness what's this on page 178? A full colour advert for the very same brand.
To be fair I found interesting material in between the fluff but not enough to motivate me to make another £5 purchase.
What Monocle reminded me of more than anything was James Brown's brave new venture after loaded, the pocket-size Jack. Charismatic editor with a certain reputation and one successful launch behind him? Check. Small format? Check. "Different" content? Check. Not quite all there? Check.
I doubt, however, that Felix Dennis will come to the (short lived) rescue of this one.
Labels: Jack, James Brown, loaded, Monocle, readership, Tyler Brule
Comments:
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Hi,
thanks for linking to my post! i did tend to get a bit of spittle at the mouth corners on that one, but this is my adopted hometown they're talking about.
the manga cartoon pullout just struck me as being completely out of place...with product placements to boot, another thorn in my eye as the Germans say. - Ian
thanks for linking to my post! i did tend to get a bit of spittle at the mouth corners on that one, but this is my adopted hometown they're talking about.
the manga cartoon pullout just struck me as being completely out of place...with product placements to boot, another thorn in my eye as the Germans say. - Ian
# posted by 
: 3:42 pm
: 3:42 pm
Monocle =! Jack. Jack was defintely aimed at a younger demographic than Monocle, it was also a lot more conventional in its choice of article themes nothing on the Japanese navy from what I can recall.
All in all Jack was very conventional compared to Monocke's feshness.
All in all Jack was very conventional compared to Monocke's feshness.
# posted by : 10:26 am
: 10:26 am
Or maybe even 'freshness', unless you're using a neologism so cutting edge that the blade hasn't even nicked me.
Certainly Jack didn't do any of the reportage stuff which Monocle aims at but almost equally certainly it was aiming at a readership which its editor hoped was out there ... somewhere.
Certainly Jack didn't do any of the reportage stuff which Monocle aims at but almost equally certainly it was aiming at a readership which its editor hoped was out there ... somewhere.
There was a collectors edition out there. I saw speedimpex.com have it. Also foreignmagz.com
Bye
Bye
# posted by : 4:36 am
: 4:36 am << Home
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