"To blog is therefore to let go of your writing in a way, to hold it at arm’s length, open it to scrutiny, allow it to float in the ether for a while, and to let others, as Montaigne did, pivot you toward relative truth." Andrew Sullivan, November 2008, The Atlantic
This beauty showed up in my mail box yesterday. A re-design. Go ahead and really look at it. It is an amalgam of the history of one of the most revered magazines in US history and the future it faces in a society that ingests information and commentary in a wide variety of forms. When I look at this cover as a whole, it strikes me that it is without image, conveying the importance of words to this particular medium without overwhelming the observer with what I like to call a "text drown." Taken in parts, the words themselves become image in the word cloud, and remind that the magazine is very much in the now with this device so currently popular in both print and digital expression. The sidebar list of articles is suitably no-nonsense imparting the message in its textbook-like appearance that substance is still the order of the day here. The nameplate hearkens back to a different era of the storied magazine thus subtly conveying pedigree. And the words THINK.AGAIN at the top are visually arresting in their starkness, convey a call to readers of a like mind, and suggest that the magazine is in touch with all means of popular expression as it vaguely resembles a URL. A real graphic design triumph.
Even as I write these words, I realize that the jury on this cover is still out as I have not read a single other opinion yet (intentionally). Just hanging my opinion out there which is also a point of Andrew Sullivan's excellent piece in this issue, "Why I Blog." I write this post quickly from first impressions. There is no edit for me and, as a career graduate student, I relish that freedom, but am also opening up myself to criticism, dissent, even scorn. Favorite line from Sullivan's keen observations - "It is in many ways, writing out loud." Conversational. Immediate. Fragmented. Personal. Communal. Participatory. BRIEF and dependent upon the hyperlink to extend the discussion. I am clocking in here at about 11 minutes now including the couple of minutes to establish links. Free and easy. Click on the link. Read the real McCoy and not my synopsis. Just starting the dialogue here from a point that engaged me as a reader.
