Future Publishing, the company I work for, has recently undergone a fairly big restructure. Amongst all of the changes I'm now working on a couple of titles, one traditional print mag, Guitar Techniques, and one iPad mag, Guitarist Deluxe. It means that now I'm a digital designer as well as the usual CMYK print version. It's been very interesting getting to grips with the skills required for iPad app creation. I use Adobe's Digital Publishing Suite to produce my work - it's great to work in a truly multimedia fashion.

You can buy Guitar Techniques from My Favourite Magazines, and you can get Guitarist Deluxe from iTunes.

This site seriously needs an update, and it will do soon. In other news I'm about to embark on a new phase in my career. I'm going to be working on a new magazine, I'll post which one once it goes to press, so stay tuned!

Apologies, I've rather neglected this blog. I've been busy with lots of different projects at Future, plus I've also been hard at work on my children's site Patterns for Colouring. The pattern site is entering a new phase and I'm currently polishing off the finishing touches on a site redesign. Magazines are still my main focus - I've recently art edited two issues of Procycling. I've also had stints on ImagineFX, What Mountain Bike, PC Format and Linux Format amongst others. There are lots planned for 2010, so stay tuned.

Time Inc has developed a new way of consuming magazines. You personalise them by giving the customer a choice of what should appear in their unique edition. The publishing company makes available a number of articles from its top brands, and you get to make a choice. Unfortunately you don't get to edit out the ads, targeted advertorials are also included. Despite this sting in the tail it represents a move that I'm sure all publishing companies will be watching carefully. I know I will. More at MagazineShift where they are dubbing it "Printernet"...

Just spotted this link via TechCrunch's Twitter: Conceptual/Graffiti artist Filippo Minelli has put together a great series of photos where Google has a hand in everything. Google Answers is possibly my favourite. There is also another category where he plasters well known website and business names onto a variety of contradictory scenes, the Facebook one is possibly the most apt.

Elsewhere, Edge magazine (produced by Future Publishing for whom I work) has produced an amazing 200 limited edition covers for its landmark 200th edition. That is an awful lot of work and a very ambitious celebration. Phew! By the way you can now follow me on Twitter by clicking the T next to my RSS feed icon.

Arena closes its doors. A sign of the difficult times that newstand editions face.

Design Week seems to be taking a certain amount of joy in Condé Nast doing a slight repeat of a prior NME cover. Beth Ditto has posed nude for their new launch title 'Love', however the NME first featured her nude in 2007. Though I would hardly call the original a triumph! Personally I don't really see the problem. Here's a star that likes to celebrate her size and femininity, so its not surprising for her to pose in the all together. Lets face it no one bats an eye when Pamela Anderson does it and she's appeared on countless covers. Love's version is far more accomplished but it doesn't really move me enough to drag me to the newsstand.

Elsewhere at Condé Nast UK they are busying themselves launching a new version of 'Wired'. I hope it lasts the course this time.

In the world of corporate communications McDonalds has received an award for its internal mag 'MDUK'. The title is designed to be read by its young staff that serve food to McD's customers. It looks like the title loves to use copious amounts of DIN, which isn't such a bad thing!

Two neat little apps if your a typonerd and in possession of an iPhone. WhatTheFont and hugeType are fun little programs that are dedicated to typefaces.

WhatTheFont is a great utility that I've used many times on my desktop computer when I'm trying to figure out what font has been used in a inspirational piece of design. Now you can do it on the move. Spot a poster on your travels and can't quite figure out what font the headline is set in? Get your iPhone out, take a snap and upload to the server and the rest is done for you.

On the other hand, hugeType is just a bit of fun. Its an app that displays Flickr snaps of individual font characters. So if you happen to have a bunch of friends all holding iPhones, then you can get creative.

I don't usually stray too far from print design here, but spotted this video on Drawar and had to share it. Its a short clip of how 3 designers donned WWII gear and recreated the D-Day landings with a lot of running about, plenty of green screen, a dash of mini explosions and a truckload of CGI...

These look cool. The Royal Mail is releasing a new series of stamps celebrating British Design classics. It includes tasteful shots of the designs on a simple white background (very DK!). Including in the collection are the Mini, Concorde, Penguin books, etc.

I'm surprised that more modern design isn't represented. Surely Jonathan Ives' iMac and iPod should get the nod?

BTW HNY, it's been a while ;)