Monocle means “a corrective lens”. Being the name of an international magazine in the black and red shelves of Virgin Megastore, the reader starts to sense how Monocle applies corrective measures to the mutated and blurred vision of the world we live in today. After I got confused whether to buy Monocle or Foreign Affairs, I decided after a few minutes of flipping its pages that Monocle was simply the best magazine that ever lay in my hands!
The great attention to details in the execution of Monocle is unbelievably overwhelming and strong! The cover page has smart colors of white, black, and yellow; the title and slogan: MONOCLE A Briefing on Global Affairs, Business, Culture, & Design with its delicate font type and size; the photo of a handsome, left-handed academic or graphic designer; the headlines…the texture suits the colors so well. As you open the first page, ads of Rolex (the GMT-Master II) and Chanel (J-12 Marine), then J. Crew shoes capture you until you reach the next page: Content –February 2011. Dazzling page! There, you’d know what further awaits you inside…a report on the Russian port and organized crime, briefings about the British Queen’s motorcade in Europe to China’s version of Google Earth in Asia, to more briefings about Africa/Middle East and Oceania’s king Tonga. More reports are found about Berlin architect, fashion, flensted mobiles, Stockholm retail, eyewear, working life, and Ad school…and more briefings on media and art market, culture and voiceover artists…After a few airlines and Dunhill ads, you can see the “online Content” page, including the products of the Monocle Shop. I bumped into “this issues debates” The Leader: Let’s look at Plan B. Amazingly, I found the CEO to be among the writers of this debate!
I also read somewhere that the magazine paper used is eco-friendly and it’s from Lebanon! I happily read an interview with Mohamed ElBaradei, former director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and how he is still seeking to bring democracy notions to his homeland, Egypt, after he has retired. I could also connect to Hiyaku comic strip that starts out (in the second page actually) by telling about Nada Debs, a prestigious Lebanese furniture designer who lived in Japan and how her upbringing influenced her warm Middle Eastern outlook on design.
As an instructor seeking professionalism in teaching and academia, I was more that glad to read about the Superhero class in education: futurist Ray Kurtzweil and his attempts to teach students about the latest innovations to save the world in Silicon Valley’s Singularity University, which is supported by Google and is based in a Nasa Campus! Going through the Emotions, Imaginative Leap, Hot Lots are a few among many other astonishingly creative titles of articles on music and art.
Then comes pages on designs in China and Germany: just beautiful articles with reflective pictures. From fashion to Breaking the Chains –Stockholm, you reach the laminated smaller pages of The Monocle Shop, showing shirts, bags, notebooks (I think I read somewhere that the latter are made in Lebanon too!), eco-jewels, special subscription offers and rates, passport holders, blankets, and other special items…All designed by Monocle! The Inventory (Objects of Desire section) highlights in interesting hotels, shops, services, and restaurants… in different places in the world. In Beirut, Ginette was the lucky name in the world of furniture retail. Just before the Endpoint “Observation Issue 40” where the Chairperson and CEO talks about the 2011 new Monocle projects, radio studios, and recruitment drives, Jason Rezaian writes about rediscovering Iran with beautiful insights and photos in Expo February 2011, Number 40: Iran Comes Out to Play! The last page: Woolrich, shop online for music instruments, from the inside and the cover page ends with Sean Connery’s ad of Louis Vuitton: this last section: all laminated…all exhilarated!
The LV slogan says it all: There are journeys that turn into legends. That is so true! My journey of finding Monocle’s Issue 40- Volume 4 showed me that this magazine is a true legend. Most importantly, I found a guide to international conferences inside this issue that includes essays on topics like brainstorming intelligent conferences, report on the venue space and room essentials of a conference, catering and uniforms, delegates’ view, high-powered conferences 2011 schedule, and inspiring speakers such as Academic and writer Sarah Thornton and Professor Yutaka Morohoshi.
To Monocle Family, a big thank you for addressing the needs of the global citizen of the ever-new world!
