⊛ Monocle 24 for iOS
Welcome to the first in our Virtual Objects series — an acknowledgment that great product design is not limited to the tangible.
Monocle is one of the most precisely arranged and beautifully executed magazines I know, doing amazing things with quality paper, elegant typography, and minimalist design. They've also been resistant to anything electronic beyond posting podcasts and the occasional video on their website — no interactive tablet editions, social media conversations, or anything that detracted from the magazine.
The accompanying iOS app serves up their 25/25 City Guides and daily Monocolumn content in addition to the radio stream. All three are freely available on their website for non-subscribers, but the app justifies its small price tag with convenience and some very nice pixels.
Each of the enlightening talk shows that break up the automated music playlists has its own representative graphic. Some, like the daily Globalist, are type-based, while others like the weekly Urbanist feature the whimsical illustrations of Satoshi Hashimoto as commonly seen in their print product.
The black and yellow interface elements everywhere echo Monocle's familiar design (as do the ad endorsements).
In addition to the live radio stream, one can 'timeshift' content by reaching into the archives to hear shows that were missed, but not music. These shows can also be bookmarked and downloaded for offline playback. Reminder alerts can be set on upcoming shows in the schedule, which is a nice touch for those reliant on the news programs.
The 25/25 city guides can be browsed on a GPS-enabled map...
Or in a compass-enabled list, which shows the direction and distances of the featured cities relative to the user's position.
The guides are downloaded on first run, so as to be accessible when traveling in the absence of a data connection. As for as content goes, however, each one contains little more than a sheet of paper's worth of establishment names and addresses. You'll have to look elsewhere to get a sense of what they're like and why you might want to visit.
Last, and somewhat least, the daily Monocolumn content is a simple text presentation, with the useful option of sending it to your Instapaper account.
The app was designed in-house by Winkreative, the same Tyler Brûlé-led company that puts out the magazine (and built by Mubaloo), and it shows. Details such as the Merlion illustration in the background tiles of the Singapore city guide, fine-grained black background texture (that had better not be bonded leather!), and the use of shading over cover art in place of a download progress bar complement the orderly, effortless extension of the classic Monocle design throughout.
App Store: Monocle 24
