Remembering: Blueprint

It's a snowy day here in Toronto, presenting me with the perfect opportunity to stay indoors and continue my weeklong pursuit of de-cluttering. So far the closets, dressers and cabinets have been purged, manifesting in several bags full of clothing for donation. The storage locker's 'enema' resulted in the selling of a huge box of VHS films that were gathering dust and today it is the magazines and books that are getting some attention. Going through my magazine holders with the purpose of editing them means completely avoiding my untouchable Martha Stewart collection of magazines: a full 22 holders in all, each containing between 10 and 14 issues of the magazine, special issues, catalogs and other Martha paraphernalia.

Among my treasures is the complete collection of Blueprint magazine. Going through them today made me so nostalgic for this beautiful little book, which sadly only published eight issues before it folded. I feel that Blueprint along with Domino - another defunct beauty - were such trend-setters, ushering in a new era of magazine philosophy and design, which also had wide implications for the online delivery of lifestyle/design content as well. I miss Blueprint to this day.

In the interest of archiving, I took the liberty of scanning each of the covers. From my files, to yours.

Designer Shane Powers

When Blueprint magazine was still in circulation, I would inevitably be dazzled by the styling, décor and crafts of its lone gentleman editor: Shane Powers. Issue after issue, I would see his name next to a photograph or article that I found especially interesting. In a recent issue of Vogue Living Australia Shane was profiled and a new side of this multi-talented designer was revealed.

The Brooklyn-based art director and stylist is now also contributing a seductive new line of ceramics and self-crafted home accessories for a store in Kathmandu called Pipalbot, a chic design emporium run by a husband-and-wife team of Australian and Nepali descent, respectively.

Shane's collection includes hand-forged brass paperweights, blankets, hand-woven flat weave rugs, flatware and, most notably, ceramic tea sets and mugs, shown above. Shane is still a contributing editor to Martha Stewart Living but it's wonderful to see him blossoming as a sought-after designer. Congratulations, Shane!

An Alternative to Blueprint

For those of us who mourn the loss of Blueprint magazine daily (and I know there are a few of you out there!), I thought I'd bring a potential alternative to your attention. On my other blog, I wrote about a new magazine I discovered called Anthology and I thought I'd post about it here, too, to give it a wider platform. Based out of San Francisco, the new start-up is emerging at a time when so many shelter magazines are folding. It offers subscriptions in the US, Canada and the UK, making it widely available and accessible. I admire the bravery and vision of the editors, who are bringing the best of modern, affordable style to the masses in a lovely print format. (The printed page is not extinct!)
I've subscribed to the magazine but have not yet received my first issue. From what I can gather, it delivers fresh, interior-design ideas from a perspective that is both eclectic and stylish, encouraging an artistic approach to the creation of one's interior spaces. Blueprint lovers will admire its layout, the use of Fling font and the sense of youth in its pages, but may miss the fashion and cooking elements, which are not part of the Anthology mission. In any case, it's worth a browse!

The Last of Blueprint

Well, the last vestiges of the Blueprint brand have finally disintegrated. The Bluelines Blog ("the shortest path to personal style") closed up shop on July 17th with a short but blunt statement. It's been such a long time since I've visited the site myself that its closure had escaped me.

With a heavy blog heart, we are saying goodbye today.
Bluelines is shutting down, but will remain here as an archive.
We want every reader to know that we have been thrilled to share with you all of the things we've loved, things we've obsessed over, and things that have inspired us in every way.
We hope you will stay in touch with us through our own blogs and sites.
Much love and best wishes to all.

There are fifty-some comments posted on the blog, many of them quite negative, expressing dismay and disappointment with the way MSLO handled the whole Blueprint affair. I was surprised to read that many of the Blueprint subscribers never receieved their replacement subscription of Martha Stewart Living. 

I can't say I'm surprised the blog has closed. It was a pale substitute for such a great magazine. From what I understand, it was being run by the staff and they were not getting paid for it. No wonder it lost its allure.

R.I.P. Blueprint. R.I.P. I will miss you.

Blueprint: The Final Draft

With the final issue of Blueprint magazine currently on newsstands, it has finally sunken in that this magazine will no longer be available. In December, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia announced that it will be shutting down the production of Blueprint after the January/February issue. Although it did not provide a reason, speculation is that it simply wasn’t producing profit and was likely costing the company.

Why didn’t it sell? Well, there are a number of reasons that I feel contributed to Blueprint’s demise.

It got off to a slow and wobbly start. It only published twice in 2006 and then only bi-monthly in 2007. The sporadic releases were not adequate in today’s saturated shelter magazine market. The magazine struggled to build up a loyal readership because the issues came out so periodically and readers wanted something more definitive, with a more focused vision. The first issue of Blueprint was a mishmash of ideas, mostly good, but the struggle to find a voice was evident.

It also struggled to nail down a target market: women between 25 and 40 comprised the official demographic. Blueprint did not, in my mind, adequately understand this demographic. First, I feel the age gap between 25 and 40 is a bit too wide; women barely out of college are not in the same financial or emotional space as women who have been in the workforce for nearly two decades.

Many of the articles in the first few issues mentioned husbands and kids and portrayed women living in large homes or elegant lofts. A bit of fanfare and fantasy is fine, but if the reader doesn’t see at least some of herself in the pages, she won’t be coming back. Most women between 25 and 30 that I know are single, childless and living in apartments or condominiums, short on disposable income and not prone to buying $1,500 shoes. As I say, a bit of aspiration and escapism is fine (a magazine about reality would be dolefully depressing) but Blueprint ought to have been more grounded in figuring out exactly what it wanted to espouse.
Still, it was a glorious magazine.

Its design and layout, photography and style were unmatched on the newsstand in its category. More than alluring, it captured a sense of magic that is so strongly lacking in a lot of glossies these days. Price tags were artfully hidden, even though it did have a rather heavy shopping component. The projects made up for it by being thoughtful and unique, creative and simple.

I read Blueprint for those reasons.

I’m not a woman, so I was not terribly interested in dresses and shoes and purses and make-up, but I am terribly interested in how those subjects are conveyed through design! I love interiors and new cooking and DIY ideas, especially if they are simple and economical, which Blueprint was always very adept at providing.

The last issue of Blueprint, sadly and wonderfully, is the best issue yet. Striking with its red, Scandinavian cover and raven-haired beauty, it sings out to be read. I bought an extra copy, in addition to my subscription issue, simply to be able to cut it up and paste some of the pages and ideas into one of my scrapbooks.

What I noticed in the issue was consistency. “At last they found consistency,” I shouted! (Not really shouted, just sort of said it in my mind.) The palettes matched. The content flowed so nicely, both within an article and from article to article. The design elements, which hadn’t changed since the issue prior, seemed more resolutely executed and presented somehow. The information was overflowing and the spelling and grammar were correct. (The third issue was rife with misinformation and was very badly edited – something I wrote to the editor about.)

The article “Chicago Manual of Style” was gorgeously photographed and was utterly inspiring. The space was small and practical and was full of ideas for anyone’s apartment or home, even if a $5,000 chandelier is a little out of reach. The design elements were gracious and simple, attainable and doable. “A Call to Order” was another sheer stroke of genius, with do-it-yourself design ideas for sprucing up the plain and the boring, all with an aim to organize in a fun and unique way: no plastic bins and wicker baskets here, folks.

The one thing I’ll miss most about Blueprint is the column “100 Reasons To.” I loved it from the first issue onward. I read it and scrutinize it, saving the links to online shops and websites I’m curious about and taking some of the advice to heart.

Martha Stewart Living has said that it is working hard to incorporate Blueprint content (and some of its former staff!) into its other platforms. An initial idea to fold the magazine content into the Weddings magazine was blown out of the water by Blueprint readers who reacted very strongly against this idea. In my mind, Blueprint was very much a single woman’s magazine, even though it pretended not to be.

Thankfully, the editors capitulated and have said that they will maintain the online substance of Blueprint (the website and the blog) and may periodically release special issues on newsstands.

Whatever they choose to do, I will miss my bimonthly guide to ‘fresh, fun, personal style.’ But I’ll go about designing my life all the same.

The End for Blueprint

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc said on Monday it will stop publishing Blueprint magazine as a standalone publication early next year to invest more heavily in its digital and weddings divisions. The last issue will publish in January.

Blueprint will continue to exist online as a blog and will be periodically published as special-interest issues through the Martha Stewart Weddings magazine. The company said it will cut jobs, but also anticipates reassigning some employees to other divisions.

The company said the move allows it to focus on digital media initiatives, expand its weddings franchise and save money in its publishing business.

This comes as sad news to those of us who loved the magazine. I was just starting to really warm up to it. Hold on to your past issues, though. They'll be worth something in the not-too-distant future!