Hasta La Ideas

Following the recent addition of AfterEllen.com and DogtimeMedia.com comes today the announcement of another Evolve Media acquisition– TotalBeauty.com.

Founded in 2007 in Los Angeles by Emrah Kovacoglu (pictured) and featuring a New York office, the Total Beauty Network attracts 3.5 million monthly unique visitors and also includes beautyriot.com, which allows users to engage in a wide variety of virtual makeovers. All properties are being migrated into Evolve’s TotallyHer Beauty and Style side, alongside existing site The Fashion Spot, while Total Beauty Network’s staff of 22 have already begun the process of transitioning to Evolve’s LA and New York offices. And on the acquisitions front, Evolve is far from done.

“We have two other acquisitions that are in active negotiation right now,” Evolve Media president and co-founder Brian Fitzgerald tells FishbowlNY via telephone, “and I’d say there are three others that I can think of, off the top of my head, that we are in active consideration on.”

“The bigger story here I think is that independent publishing has gotten extremely difficult,” he continues. “In this evolving marketplace, scale has really become a paramount factor. A lot of content businesses were funded by VC firms with an eye towards truly being able to stand alone, and they just can’t. So we recognize a fantastic buy-side opportunity that exists right now. Most independent publishing companies just don’t have the requisite infrastructure to play in today’s sponsorship and programmatic marketplace.”

Fitzgterald (pictured, left) says Evolve did not take a serious look at Livingly Media, the umbrella group for Zimbio, StyleBistro and Lonny that was sold to auFeminin. Mainly because he sees the content business moving away from business models that are heavily reliant on SEO and social traffic.

Less than a quarter of Evolve Media’s traffic comes from social networks, with Facebook and Pinterest being the main drivers within that frame. It’s a relatively low percentage when compared to many of the large Internet content publishers.

“On average, across the entire portfolio, we have 36% direct navigational traffic,” Fitzgerald says. “That means 36% of people coming to our site are putting in the URL directly into their browser. Another five to nine percent are putting the URL or site name in a search engine. When you add that together, you’re looking at 45% brand equity. For me, that’s the only kind of content that has longevity.”

John Catsimatidis, the man behind the Gristedes grocery stores, has emerged as a frontrunner to buy The New York Daily News. This is interesting considering the fact that in 2001, Catsimatidis boycotted the paper after it declared Gristedes one of the city’s dirtiest supermarkets.

As anyone who has shopped in a Gristedes knows, the stores aren’t exactly beacons of cleanliness. However, Catsimatidis was outraged. He pulled the Daily News from his chain and called for editors to be fired. Catsimatidis put so much pressure on the tabloid that it caved and ran a pro-grocery store advertorial.

Richard Pienciak, the Daily News’ city editor during the boycott — yes, Catsimatidis wanted him fired — is among those worried about what will happen if Catsimatidis ends up buying the paper.

“Given the way Mr. Catsimatidis behaved back in 2001, when we had documented evidence — namely state inspection reports — I am concerned for my former colleagues who remain at the Daily News and all the other journalists there,” Pienciak told The New York Post.

To this day, Catsimatidis stands by his boycott. “We got very upset about a reporter that printed lies about one of our supermarkets,” he explained.

We look forward to the Catsimatidis owned Daily News coverage of Gristedes, the greatest business in New York.

The Knoll team recently showed us a preview of their latest beautifully designed furniture line: the Remix family of chairs. Teaming up with Formway Design, Knoll produced this line of high-performance office chairs with a focus on conforming to……

Continue Reading…

Le photographe Sam Scholes s’est aventuré dans les châteaux de glace de l’Utah pour capturer des photos impressionnantes et mystérieuses. Brent Christensen est derrière le projet « Ice Castles » : il est celui qui a lancé la construction de plusieurs grottes de glace dans 4 endroits des Etats-Unis. Sam Scholes s’est rendu sur l’un des sites et s’est amusé avec des lumières et de la longue exposition.

News: Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby have announced their departure from teaching roles on the Design Interactions course at London’s Royal College of Art.

Tony Dunne is leaving his position as head of the Design Interactions programme at the end of this academic year after 10 years in the role.

Raby, another member of the Design Interactions staff team, is also stepping down from the institution. The duo said they were leaving to focus on their design studio Dunne & Raby.

Dunne’s departure marks the second senior staff change at the institution’s design faculty in under two years. In September 2013 designer Tord Boontje left his post as head of the Design Products course. He was replaced with Dr Sharon Baurley, an academic who had previously been head of design at the School of Engineering & Design, Brunel University.

Both Dunne and Raby have a longstanding history with the RCA. Dunne studied Industrial Design at the college before completing a PhD in Computer Related Design (CRD), then began teaching in 1991. Raby studied on the RCA’s Architecture and CRD courses, and both designers were founding members of the institution’s CRD Research Studio.

“I feel very fortunate to have worked with so many amazingly talented students, teachers and colleagues across the RCA and within the programme during my time here, both as a student and as a member of faculty,” said Dunne. “I am very proud of what our team and students have achieved over the last decade and I look forward to continuing the many conversations that began here in new ways.”

The Design Interactions course encourages students to find applications for developing and speculative technologies within product and industrial design. Projects by recent students and graduates include synthetic biology proposals for meals that behave like living creatures and modifying the human body so it can consume and digest rotten food.

“Tony leaves the college at a high point, with his and Fiona’s critical design philosophy fully embedded throughout the School of Design,” said Dale Harrow, dean of the School of Design. “As a colleague, and as a valued member of my senior team, Tony will be much missed, as will Fiona.”

Dunne and Raby set up their own studio in 1994 to “use design as a medium to stimulate discussion and debate amongst designers, industry and the public about the social, cultural and ethical implications of existing and emerging technologies”, according to their website.

Their work features in the permanent collections of museums including New York’s MoMA and London’s V&A.

The RCA will begin searching for a replacement to head the Design Interactions programme immediately.

Photograph by AFP/Stringer, courtesy of Getty Images.

The post Dunne and Raby step down
from Royal College of Art appeared first on Dezeen.