Hasta La Ideas

When I.D. Magazine dropped dead last week at the age of 55, the design world twittered its progress through the grieving process, from denial (“Nooooooo!”) and anger (“Grrrrrr”) to depression (“I want to cry”) and finally, acceptance (“Sad, but it’s a good decision to focus on their annual design review online”). Today Jesse Ashlock, who took over as editor-in-chief in late May, reflected on his tenure at the magazine in a blog post entitled simply “I.D. Magazine 1954-2009.” Was I.D. undone by its lack of a clear identity? Ashlock explains:

It wasn’t until taking the top job last spring that I came to realize how problematic some found I.D.‘s brand identity, and to learn that battles had been waged over its mission for years. Was it a consumer magazine or a trade, and what did those damn letters really stand for? Of course, they stood for “international design,” but some still yearned for the days, decades ago, when they meant “industrial design”; others mistook I.D. for Interior Design, and the rise of interactive design added yet another I.D. to the mix.

Not to mention the presence of the similarly named across-the-pond fashion bible, i-D. For Ashlock, the multiple meanings aren’t confusing or competitive but complementary, “and they attested to the way the brand had grown along with the design world over the years. They spoke, to use another ‘i’ word, to the growing interdisciplinarity of the design disciplines, and the increasingly integral role of design in our lives and collective consciousness.” Farewell, I.D. You will be missed.

Previously on UnBeige: