TAKEAWAY: Three fabulous reads in one day of The New York Times: I hope that our enthusiasm for these three pieces will be shared by you all. One piece made me realize that I, too, am addicted to my digital surroundings; another one provoked me to look into “that pouch on the cover of the magazine”, and the third one put a big smile on my face—newspaper and profit in the same sentence. Is it “Worryless in Seattle”? PLUS: Pure Design download #26: Visual Parallelism
Decisions, decisions: In the morning, the bathroom or the computer?
It took this article from The New York Times to make me realize the obvious: I, too, am addicted to emails, Facebook, Twitter, blogs and the rest of the digital enchilada.
The piece in the Times takes us into several American homes, depicting how the usual morning routine has been altered—-no, we don’t go directly to pick up the TV remote and get ready for Matt and Meredith on the Today show. God, some of us don’t do that first necessary bathroom stop after we stumble out of bed and get that first morning fix of our computer’s keyboard.
At 62, I should not fit the profile of the digitally obsessed, but does this have anything to do with age? I guess not.
First we wake up, then we check emails, and we Tweet, and we do Facebook, and after that 18-minute ritual is over, we brush our teeth, shower, and by then about 12 minutes have passed, which means there must be something new flashing on the computer screen. If that does not happen, then we may begin to think that the world may have forgotten us completely.
In my case, as I always say, there is somebody awake in some part of the world while I sleep; that someone is writing me a mail, or sending a message——yes, forgot to mention that also look at my iPhone for signs of overnight digital life in the form of text messages. The usual take: three to five.My pajama shirt should have the image of a 24/7 world. It is the world I live in, but, based on this New York Times piece, it is also the one many other people inhabit.
I pity those who stay in the same time zone all the time, since there will probably be long spells without an avalanche of messages. But not me. I have changed time zones three times in the past 7 days, which allows for more frequent surprises in the message department.
Not to mention that when I am flying for 8 hours—-deprived of any digital communication—-well, I go nuts for a little while, then resign myself.
God, don’t let them allow Internet on board airplanes, as it is the only time I cocoon into life the way it used to be, curl up with a book, or just simply sleep without expecting the sweet sound of a beep to alert me to the next message. Please don’t, not in my lifetime. It is OK to be 8 hours without emails.
Now, the 14-hour flights, I am not so sure about that long a period without some digital reminder that the world is still functioning down below.
Note: for a while Lufthansa had Internet on board, and, well, you get the picture: I found myself Skyping with the Buenos Aires office while flying over Iran once—-with no incidents; and I chatted with someone from France while over Brazil. Those were the days. And, no, I don’t want them to return. I now chat with real people sitting next to me, while sipping bubblies, a reminder of the way things can be when you look someone in the eyes and discuss topics that were not even remotely included in your programmed life.
In my flight this week from Frankfurt to Dubai, I chatted with an engineer who specializes in cargo ships that carry oil across the world’s oceans. I now know who makes most of these ships—South Korea—-and that they are usually the same size, carry crews of 30 who may be at sea for a month or longer, and, yes, these crewmen and women usually can enjoy a swim in the ship’s swimming pool,exercise in the fitness facility, and may drink up to a beer a day. The food, he says, is pretty good, too.
And, no, he said: no Internet on board these ships. A month with no Internet connection?
Not for me, a certified member of the culture of the always on. Does that make me an addict?
Check to see if you are another member of the culture of the “always on”:
Coffee Can Wait. Day’s First Stop Is Online:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/10/technology/10morning.html?ref=todayspaper.
Selling ads anywhere you can
Cover of House Beautiful magazine, complete with pouch that offers tips on selecting colors (image from The New York Times)
It’s about time daily newspapers take a look at what the magazines are doing to generate extra revenue. True, many newspapers worldwide are already offering part of the front page real estate to advertising—-long overdue. However, the magazines are going one step further.
Some examples:
The cover of the September issue of a Hearst magazine, House Beautiful, will include a pouch offering tips on how to choose colors for home decorating , that readers can pull out and save. The pouch offers info, but it is spondored by Glidden Paints: “Glidden gets you going.”
Entertainment Weekly magazine included a pocket on the cover of its April 3 issue that contained a pull-out ad for a new series on ABC, “The Unusuals.”
Esquire magazine printed special covers for its February and May issues with special ads that appeared on the back side of editorial content.
I am convinced that we will see a happier marriage of advertising/editorial content in the months and years ahead. Keep an eye on it. Be daring. Experiment. Readers/users like advertising. As these examples show, one can offer information through an ad, while increasing revenue.
For this article go here:
Magazines Turn to Cover Ads, and Even Pouches, for Revenue: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/10/business/media/10adcol.html?ref=media. Alternative advertising in magazines (though the American Society of Magazine Editors seems puritanical in its refusal to allow advertising on the cover).
Newspaper + Profit = Wonderful equation
Did I read that right? Is the Seattle Times operating in the black? Did someone say profit?
Obviously, yes. As you may recall, The Seattle Times became the city’s only surviving daily newspaper in March, with the demise of the rival Post-Intelligencer, known as The P-I. Now, about five months later, the word profit could be part of the page one headline—-in 300 points, at least.
These are the type of stories that I file under “good news” and “print may be eternal”.
Make your day, read this happy story of a newspaper that operates on the black:
Seattle Paper is Resurgent as a Solo Act: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/10/business/media/10seattle.html?ref=media. How a city is doing after it lost one of its two major newspapers.
Pure Design download today: Visual parallelism
Book ends look good when holding a string of books on that armoire on your study. However, when it comes to design, that perfectly balanced page with matching elements on left and right tends to be less than exciting. Often, it is visually boring.
Who is Jacky?
Every Sunday: Jacky leads us to his favorite picks from Bild Am Sonntag!
Pure Design: Download entire section: Type
Download entire first section of Pure Design: Words
Now that I have fully presented the first of six sections of Pure Design on TheMarioBlog, I am offering the entire initial section, “Words,” available for download—all 33 pages of it. This may be useful for those of you saving or printing out Pure Design and will be done following each of the remaining sections. At the end of our journey through words, type, layout, color, pictures, and process, I will publish the entirety of Pure Design in one file.
WAN’s World Trends 2009 Report
The 2009 edition of World Press Trends from WAN/IFRA is now available. I always like to review this report for its complete information on global circulation, advertising and online trends in our industry. All countries in the world where daily newspapers are published are covered in the publication.
This year the WAN/IFRA folks have decided to publish a print version but only make the book available on pdf.
Those interested go:
http://www.wan-press.org/forms/wpt2009.html
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TheMarioBlog posting #329