The future will be well-tailored

Nothing to note here, except Tyler Brule said it. I just like how that sentence sounds. One thing I will say is that I do believe our lives will be very curated and tailored as we continue to see the digital culture evolve and the globe shrinking.

Monocle is moving into a new office space and Tyler Brule describes it. This is pretty ideal to my mind.

A solid red-brick affair (…) At ground level there’s outdoor parking for 15 or so cars (soon to be turned into flower beds and shady reading areas) and plenty of room for a sturdy bicycle garage. Inside there’s a reception area for speed meetings (reserved for people selling printers, water coolers and IT systems) and a suite of radio studios and control rooms. There is also a large room that will function as dining room, speakers’ venue, dancefloor and exhibition space. On one floor will be the editorial offices of Monocle; on the second, the offices of my design agency Winkreative, and on the third will be conference rooms, finance, publishing, PR and my office. Perhaps the best feature of the lot is that all floors have terraces overlooking the park – the one off the first floor is ideal for hosting cocktails for 150 and the upper floors are perfect for a sneaky cigarette, animated phone conversation or grabbing a bit of morning sun.

Tyler Brule gets profiled in New York Magazine, so of course I’m going to read/write about it. Reading the part about Monocle TV got me excited — it’s being compared to my two favorite shows.

It’s a weekly hour of what Brûlé describes as “gentle, good, informative viewing” not unlike old episodes of 60 Minutes or even CBS’s retro Sunday Morning. The show will feature magazine-style reports from Monocle’s correspondents that are unhurried in tone.

An interesting blurb from the Monocle Bulletin this morning titled, Monocle on Med.

We’re launching a special summer newspaper edition of Monocle that will be on sale in all the best resorts, from the West Coast to the eastern Med (and the key airport hubs in between). Packed with leisurely reads, great reportage and plans for the second half of the year, it will be your handsome companion from sun lounger to sun downers.

As you know, I drink the Monocle kool-aid, so I’ll be on high alert as I’m passing through areas where I may be able to find one of their newspapers.

Tyler Brule has some sound advice for coping with jet lag. Emphasis my own.

Sleep as much as possible during the flight and just get on with it when you land. Don’t talk about the long flight with colleagues and friends as it’s boring and everyone knows how long the flight was and the time change involved. It’s best just to ignore it and get on with life. A good run or gym session helps kick some of the haze away.

Since I’ve been (re)thinking of different ways to do the more formal stuff for currentblend, I thought I should mention that our Annual Report will (hopefully) be a breath of fresh air. I’d like to do something similar to Feltron, but the recent Finnair Report is something to be inspired by.

I agree with The Scout and (also)

wonder if Winkreative is behind this initiative – dressing up the pages with colorful illustrations, articles written in the form of Q&As, and a fashion review on past Finnair uniforms. Tyler Brule even makes an appearance, contributing a column of his own.

Tyler Brule ended this week’s FT column with this line (Quickly. Am I the only one who checks their RSS reader on Friday night’s for his column? Actually, don’t answer that.).

I’ve yet to find an online experience that’s superior to ye olde shoppe in terms of consumer serendipity. You may not be able to judge a book, CD or DVD by its cover but it’s certainly an excellent starting point. For me, it’s much easier to part with cash at Daunt Books in London, Tsutaya at Roppongi Hills in Tokyo and La Hune in Paris than it is at Amazon and its competitors.

This is a great point when it comes to online versus offline shopping (although I think there is a distinction that needs to be added between ‘buying’ and ‘shopping’.). I agree that it’s easier to spend money (buying) offline at physical stores. Seeing the quality, the fit, the style and details makes buying something much easier. However, when it comes to scanning a store or finding a product you’re interested in (shopping) I think the web is far superior. I can scan a number of stores for the best price, similar product, different brands, and other options.

I think this all ties to a theme I have around these parts where I believe that, while completely awesome, the internet should be used in conjunction and along side a “physical component”.

The internet is another channel for companies to use. In some cases it is the only channel, in others it’s one of many.

I love the view the Tyler Brule has taken with Monocle and sponsors.

Everything we do always has a sponsor attached, we took the view very early on that we were not going to expose ourselves by developing a ton of things online and then having this massive sink hole.

My favorite magazine is Monocle. In addition to the magazine, Monocle produces a great website, store – bricks and clicks - and podcasts (check out the Sunday ). One of the main draws to Monocle for me is the design. The lead designer went into great detail on his blog about the thinking and planning of the Monocle brand.

For those of you who are interested in the blurbs that stuck out to me (during this read of it), click the “more” link below. Otherwise, I HIGHLY recommend to head to the write-up and read the whole thing (warning: it’s a bit long, but SO worth it).

As I begin to tackle various projects of mine, I’ve already noticed myself re-reading this write-up for inspiration, tools and notes that I need to consider. This article touches on everything from company branding, web design and planning, workspace structure, video equipment and software, audio branding and strategy execution.

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