design details Franklin and Baskerville were the predominant fonts. (Ritter attributed his love of old fonts—what he calls “wood and metal” fonts—to his years with Kalman.) The mix is played with in a way that makes them look modern and fresh, not overbearing. Zee’s encyclopedic knowledge of fashion was flushed into the narrowest of columns and timelines, making every page a kaleidoscope of tidbits and gorgeous photography.

Apparently, Ritter was the art department. He did all the booking and production along with his managing editor. Impressive, as every shoot and every still life, in particular, were lovingly and uniquely handled. Accessories in FOB pages shot against white created a kind of shape within a shape, gorgeously crafted.

So why did it fail? In the end, Vitals was around for a little over a year. It folded in September 2005, soon after Condé Nast merged with its sister, Fairchild. Perhaps it was seen as a competitor to both Vogue and the new Men’s Vogue. I’m sure a great deal of thought and marketing analysis went into the decision, but I was surprised to see the issues getting thinner and thinner as the months went by.

Perhaps the magazine was too high end. I was sad to see it go. Vitals wasn’t always successful. Some of the FOB spreads were over the top—the fussy type and packed pages could be head spinning. But that kind of exaggeration is what’s left the rest of us with tons of inspiration.

MARTHA’S NEW BLUEPRINT
Inspiration is the name of the game at Blueprint. It is a great looking magazine, designed by Debra Bishop, design director of development at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. Her body of work during her 10-year tenure at MSL is very impressive and includes the beloved Martha Stewart Baby (designed with Barbara DeWilde), and Kids: Fun Stuff to Do Together, which won last year’s design award at ASME.

Blueprintfeels familiar to me editorially. It’s a cross between Condé Nast’s Domino, the other “how to do everything for your home” guide for the trendy 20-something girl, with a solid peppering of Martha Stewart Living and Vitals. It lacks the sass in tone, graphically and editorially that the cooler Domino has, but I don’t see that as a failing. It feels more like a decision. Based on the premiere issue, the Blueprint girl has more classic values and taste than her Domino counterpart.

Graphically, the Vitals sensibility is particularly present in the FOB. The upper left-hand corners of opening pages display extra tidbits within contained boxed rules, as Vitals FOB pages did. The hyper service displayed on every FOB page with .5 ruled callouts over photos, together with bitsy narrow column formats and love of scotch rules whisper Vitals déjà vu. Bishop is far too intelligent a designer to mimic Vitals—but there is something in the air. That said, the typography in Blueprint is truly distinctive. None of these fonts were custom drawn, yet, when put together on a page, they are fresh and unmistakably Blueprint—after only one issue. It’s a lovely mix of the same playful script adapted in the logo and a modern, no frills sans and classic serif. This eclectic pairing of traditional and modern is young, light, and as a result, completely appropriate.

It’s the feature well that brings Blueprint solidly back into the Martha camp with its design and photographic sensibilities. I see this as “a good thing,” as Martha would say. It needs to reflect the mother ship, just enough. While some of the photos are a bit chilly and layouts a little fussy for my taste, it’s gorgeous stuff. There is a particularly breathtaking story on charm bracelets in the premiere issue—lovingly photographed and designed with exquisite attention to details.

It will be interesting to see how Blueprint evolves. It feels editorially overextended at the moment—from fashion to beauty to crafty scarf purses and party tips—but I respect its ambitions and overall it’s a, pardon my pun, charmer.

CONDÉ NAST’S COOKIE
Cookie is another launch that has been highly anticipated this year. Again, I see the influence of Vitals in its pages. Let it be known that Cookie is produced by the same division in Condé Nast that published Vitals—though not the same creative directors. For me, there is a subtle influence in the “color” of the typography throughout the book.

I hail from the Roger Black school of typography, where there is always one lovely classic serif accented with a strong black sans or slab font for color. Cookie is very free of that formula, as was Vitals. As a result, the pages have a ruled evenness to the color of the type and to the pages themselves that is quite refreshing. FOB pages are divided up horizontally with fine ruled lines. The type in these quadrants are separated with different sized fonts and assorted leading, not bold versus roman, which is more typical.