Wired Is Good but Weird
I have a love-hate relationship with Wired magazine. The content can be terrific but the magazine’s high-velocity layout and design has made it a challenge to read, which is one of the reasons I’ve subscribed and unsubscribed over the years. In the latest issue, however, Wired’s editors introduce some design changes, highlighted by some new fonts and thicker, less glossy paper. Unfortunately, the layout remains as scattered and frenetic as ever.
That said, the content is remains Wired’s biggest asset. Case in point is a profile in the most recent issue on Victoria, B.C.-based Triton Logging, which has developed a machine called the Sawfish that chops down trees underwater. There are an estimated 200 million to 300 million trees - most of them dead but perfectly preserved - trapped in reservoirs around the world. Triton is focused on harvesting trees in Oosta Lake in northern B.C., which was created in 1954 when Alcan built a dam to generate hydro-electric power for an aluminum plant.
The story of Triton and the underwater forests it wants to harvest will keep me coming back to Wired but sometimes you wish they’d try to balance the content and their ambitious design goals.
Technorati Tags: Triton Logging
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Mark, I’m blushing. Thanks for the very kind words about my article.
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Michael,
I really enjoyed it, and it seems like you had a good time doing the research. I would have linked to it but couldn’t find it on the Wired site.
cheers, Mark
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:59 pm
On the contrary, I like the design of Wired magazine. Makes me look forward to the fact that I’m not reading another TIME or Fast Company magazine (both which I also subscribe to.) Of course, the advertisements begin to blend into the rest of the content with this newest design, but that was their intention all along…
January 23rd, 2007 at 4:18 pm
Loved reading the articles also, and I seem to remember seeing a short Televised report about this company a few months ago on SRC. This is the type of tech, that should get more press and I comend you for doing just that!
January 25th, 2007 at 10:43 am
Amen, Mark - I’m like you in terms of the love-hate relationship thing. I think the overall quality of their editorial work has been improving greatly in the past year, but the design still throws me off sometimes - and people like you and me are (I would have thought) pretty much exactly the target demographic. I like that the magazine is as much a thing of art as of science, but I hate that my failing eyes have to strain to decipher some of the more creative layouts.
At least their designers these days (usually) manage to steer clear of that completely unreadable 8-point grey text on a silver background that was one of their favourites throughout the mid-90s.