sustainable architecture:magazine

The followed questionnaire was send via email to my focus group together with some designs of the magazine, when I had done the first spreads.

Postopia critique

I would like the audince to judge the magazine on their personal taste and demand.

Just to help you answer the brief, I prepared some key questions.

1.       Would you consider buying this magazine? Please explain why.

2.       Do you find the design of it interesting? Is this type of magazine new to the world of architecture? Please keep in mind that this magazine aims to students and not practising architects.

3.       A magazine normally includes advertising. Sometimes it can be boring but that’s the way it is. A magazine survives most of the times by its advertising. Do you agree with the type of advertising I have chossen and is there a brand that you would like to see in this magazine?

4.       What do you think of the name of the magazine. The word ‘postopia’?

5.       The magazine will be edited every month by a different architect. Do you find this an interesting idea for a magazine?

6.       Even though the magazine has architecture as the main concept, the way I approached it is quite different from what someone would expect. For instance ‘the view’ section, where is about the architect doesn’t mention anything about his work or his biography.  It has 10 questions of the kind eg, the ugliest airport in the world, the place you would built a building, the most romantic city, the most beautiful building in the world etc. These kind of questions. Do you agree with this kind of topics?

7.       The magazine is priced £5.00. Whats your opinion of this?

8.       ‘Postopia’ concerning the design aspect  follows  two particular styles, Victorian and Avant Garde. Two contradictory styles, the one really decorative and the other one very experimental and strong. What do you think of it?

 Comments from focus group

‘It had an original name, a bit strange and it has a different kind of style than other magazines I have read.’

‘The design is unique and quite modern, it presents the topics in an interesting way, covering important elements of every building without any boring details’.

‘The name intigues your imagination and you are uncertain what is inside. That can make the consumers to pick it up only by curiosity’.

‘Interesting idea and quite different from other architecture magazines’.

At that point of receiving initial designs, the focus group commented the following…

‘Needs more text in its framework and not too much advertising’.

‘I really like the brand typeface-Dalliance’

‘There are some strong spreads and some other that are weak’.

‘Be careful with the colors you choose’.

Originally uploaded by mcharalambous20

Originally uploaded by mcharalambous20

Originally uploaded by mcharalambous20

examples of inside pages from Blueprint architecture magazine

Also, Blueprint magazine in association with London Design festival brings together a host of leading designers, artists and commentators to discuss how design relates to the cultural life of Britain. It takes place at the main hub of the Festival, the Royal Festival Hall and there is an £8 entrance fee.

the magazine is priced at £4.75
blueprint cover

DAL4

Originally uploaded by mcharalambous20

Dalliance history-Design Info

The source: In 1996/97 Emigre was designing the displays for a historical museum in a small town in southwest Germany using the newly introduced Mrs Eaves typefaces. The subjects reached back to prehistoric and Celtic times, up through the Middle Ages, Napoleonic times, the Industrial age, World War II, and ended in the mid-1970s. subjects included the burning of heretics in the Middle Ages and the local development of National Socialism.

While working on these subjects, the designers were hesitating whether it was the right choice of typeface to use for those subjects. Should we maintain its humanistic forms while dealing with historical facts describing such inhuman acts? Should we change the typeface from topic to topic, or would the change of fonts within the collection be interpreted as a graphic gimmick? are some of the questions arised.

These discussions about the meaning and intricacies of typeface design were on my mind when I came across the handwriting on a map of a battle that had taken place at Ostrach in southwest Germany in 1799. The designer was impressed by the imperfections of the handwriting and by the compromises the writer had to make in lettering the map, which were intensified by a rough photocopy quality, as we did not have access to the original map.

With this historic source in mind he decided to complete the design of Dalliance.