Eye Magazine

Flight 404’s Robert Hodgin has worked out the ideal format for his life - as a nicely rendered pie chart, writes John L. Walters. About a third of his time is spent sleeping; another chunk is for eating; and there’s a tiny sliver

I always liked the idea of The Independent and there have been a couple of periods, especially after it launched in 1986, when I defected to it from The Guardian. Even so, it has been a long time since I read it regularly, although the campaigning front pages produced since its 2005 redesign by Cases i Associats were eye-catching and occasionally led me to buy it. My main stumbling block is the tabloid page (and that goes for The Times, too). No matter how these two papers might rationalise the switch from broadsheet, the smaller size – also used by the Daily Mail – remains inherently down-market. The Guardian’s brilliantly managed move into new territory with the Berliner format underlined how dowdy, unimaginative and old-fashioned its rivals had become. 

From Mike Kippenhan The idea of inviting a variety of people associated with design to write about ‘neglected classics that take us “beyond the canon”’ resulted in an interesting and enjoyable issue of Eye (no. 68 vol. 17). It was refreshing to be introduced not only to some classics I was unaware of, but also to new contributors who have taken the time to share their ideas and interests.

I thought I was going to be the warm-up man for Ian Anderson.

Print can still do lots of things you can’t do online   , and one of the more striking and tactile techniques in the print designer’s armoury is die-cutting, writes John L. Walters.

It’s not an obvious design or art exhibition – more like an interactive playroom from the design museum of our dreams.

When I asked a member of Sheffield’s Millennium Gallery staff where I’d find the Advanced Beauty exhibition of digital video art, he politely confessed to having no idea what I was talking about, writes David Thompson.