For Font Fans
It will come as no surprise that in addition to actually going places, I also like to fill my home with travel-related paraphernalia. A separate obsession: maps. Yet another: fonts and typefaces. Via some friends, I stumbled across maps (that double as artwork) in which graphic designers arrange the names of the neighborhoods in a city (or parts of a country, etc.) in their approximate locations so that altogether they make up the physical shape of the place. They sound weird; they look awesome. Until I find a vendor in Hong Kong, it’s necessary to buy them from abroad. Ork Posters, founded by Chicagoan Jenny Beorkrem, started off as a side project but turned into a full-time business. The prints are bold, graphic and colorful; their content ranges from New York to Paris. Then there’s London-based designer Richard Small, who initially created a typographical map of Ireland as a wedding gift. Then word spread, and he now runs Font Map outside of his day job. Small can spend up to 20 hours on a single piece. “The key to these maps is to try and keep the typeface as true to the original as possible, without stretching it or modifying it in any way, whilst still maintaining a high degree of geographical accuracy,” Small says. “I see it as a big jigsaw puzzle really—with enough playing, the letters will fit.” He produces his maps—which include continents (Europe, Africa), countries (France, Italy, Norway, Japan) and cities (Brooklyn, Paris)—in limited-edition runs, and also accepts custom work.
Cathay Pacific Unveils... New Seats!
Squished in economy? Too cheap for business? Fear not, now there’s premium economy class. Cathay Pacific issued a four-page document describing the new offering—you’d find it hard to believe that so much could be penned about tray tables—but I’ve distilled it into what you absolutely need to know.
The “seat pitch,” which is roughly equivalent to leg room in our laymen’s vernacular, is six inches bigger than in economy. There’s a wider seat that reclines further, as well as a foot rest, extra stowage space, increased baggage allowance, priority check-in and boarding and, yes, two tray tables (one for meals, the other for mere cocktails). Cathay’s also introducing a connector that allows you to connect phones or media players and view your own content on the TV at your seat. The seats will be in a separate cabin, so you can enjoy a smidge of the VIP treatment you’d get if you were flying business, with juice and champagne upon boarding as well as an amenity kit—because a complimentary eye mask, a larger pillow and noise-canceling headsets will presumably make paying a 50- to 80-percent markup above economy worth it. Should you find the benefits outweigh the costs, premium economy class will be available for booking starting April 1 aboard certain flights on the Sydney, Toronto, Vancouver and New York routes—and soon others.
Here’s the best part: for the plebes among us (myself included), there are ALSO new regular economy seats for long-haul flights. The first aircraft with the upgraded seats will enter service this month, flying to Sydney and Toronto initially, with more destinations added over the next two years. The new regular economy seats will have the same amount of leg room (boo) but a slightly wider seat (woot?), the plug that allows you to play movies from your iPod on the screen (a definite yay) and, best of all, a “cradle” mechanism for reclining. No longer will the butt of the seat slide forward, cramming your legs under the seat in front of you. The back of the seat will once again lean back! It may seem trivial, but sit out enough 16-hour flights and inches start to matter.
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