June 8, 2011 On Design Well Preserved By Ian Volner Photograph by Michael Falco. Historical preservationism began innocently enough. The demolition in 1963 of the old Penn Station in Manhattan shocked the conscience of a certain class of urban do-gooder, and with the help of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis a campaign was launched to spare Grand Central Terminal the same fate. Its success emboldened governments around the country to strengthen controls over new development, and a movement was born. But what was once the province of the civic-minded, the protection of our architectural patrimony has today become an empire, a sprawling demesne of stasis that occupies some twelve percent of the earth’s surface. The UNESCO World Heritage Committee, national and regional landmarks authorities, environmental activists, and other well-meaning persons have conspired to turn the world into a giant museum, choking off the creative-destructive flow that sustains architectural invention. If the trend continues apace, we could soon see buildings prospectively preserved—catalogued and canonized, stuffed and mounted, before they are even finished. Such, at least, is the theme that Dutch-born architect Rem Koolhaas and cocurator Shohei Shigematsu explored in their New Museum show, “Cronocaos,” which ended this Sunday. Located in a new annex space next to the SANAA-designed main gallery on the Bowery, the exhibition was a marquee event of the Festival of Ideas for the New City, a street fair–cultural clambake that took over the surrounding sidewalks in early May. Read More
March 11, 2011 On Design Charlotte Strick Talks to ‘The Atlantic’ By Thessaly La Force Our wonderful art editor Charlotte Strick took some time to talk to The Atlantic about her work as a graphic designer: What’s a design trend that you wish would go away? It’s not so much a design “trend”: the lack of quality in trade book publishing. Because of the rising costs of printing, many publishers are now using thinner paper stocks for book interiors. The paper feels cheap and there’s more “show through” of the text from the previous page. Those of you who still enjoy holding a good old-fashioned book in your hands will know what I’m talking about. You really can feel the difference. What’s an idea you became fascinated with but that ended up taking you off track? Do ex-boyfriends count? I’d say so! Read the rest of Charlotte’s interview here.
September 22, 2010 On Design Jennifer Over and Our New Web Site By Thessaly La Force You may have noticed that our Web site looks different. It’s prettier, less cluttered, easier on the eyes—it’s a delight to click on every page. Meet Jennifer, the Web designer with Tierra Innovation who was crucial to envisioning our redesign. Who better to explain our magical transformation? She recently answered some questions about the site via e-mail. For those unfamiliar with the old site, what has changed? Well, a big change is that the site now features a mix of evergreen content from the issue and more ephemeral content from The Daily and Twitter. You might drop in to check out something on the blog and then ten minutes later find yourself reading an interview from 1978. Another change is that it’s easier to browse the archives of The Paris Review. For the first time, you can browse by genre, which is a whole new way of looking at the work. The new site pulls a lot of amazing pieces from the archive to the surface. I hope that it excites your readers! What were you thinking about when you designed the new look? When we first met to discuss the look and feel of the Web site, Lorin described a vision of the publication—and by proxy the site—as “rough and ready.” That turned out to be a pretty provocative and inspiring idea that we kept drawing from over the course of the design. What could be considered rough and ready online is really open for interpretation. Ultimately our take was a design that’s well-considered without looking too polished. Simple background shades and rules. No textures or finishes to make things on-screen look tactile and juicy. An environment in which text can stand out. And most significantly, a design that is loose enough to change with regularity. Specifically, the color palette of the site will change based on each new issue’s cover. We also really wanted to embrace certain design elements of the print magazine, like the hand-rendered logotype, some of the mid-century-modern typography and the frontispiece illustration by William Pène du Bois. It was an interesting challenge to integrate those elements into a Web site in a way that feels natural and modern rather than anachronistic. The Paris Review has undergone many changes from 1953, when it was founded, to today, as realized by our new art editor, Charlotte Strick. In your research for the site, was there a look you liked the most? The least? Read More