Something a bit different this week.
At Anthill, we’re keen advocates of great design as a gateway to untapped creativity. We place immense emphasis on the design of our finished product (something Australian business magazines traditionally have not prioritised) and it’s something we take time to appreciate in the work of others.
So it was with great pleasure that I stumbled on the delightfully quixotic Lost At E Minor. Produced by editorial teams in Sydney and New York, Lost At E Minor works the popular culture beat, but there’s no hint of Paris Hilton or Brangelina. Instead, it keeps an ear to the ground for the latest global trends in design, music, photography, illustration, fashion, travel, art, architecture, film and products – pretty much any manifestation of cultural creativity that suits the authors’ tastes.
This, far more than its sumptuous design, is what makes Lost At E Minor such a compelling site. It has unabashedly embraced user-generated content, yet retains the kind of editorial quality control and personality that defines all successful brands. The reasons why people return to a popular website or blog are the same as why they choose to become friends with some people over others. You might head over to Digg to check out what is currently amusing the masses. (Do they realise that Ron Paul is no longer a US Presidential candidate? Who cares, there’s a new iPhone!) But time online, as offline, is most satisfying when spent in neighbourhoods inhabited by people whose tastes intersect your own.
Thoughtful, subtle, original and witty, this is how I like my popular culture served up – with a twist that affirms daily that there is so much more out there than the lowest common denominators we’re force-fed. Lost At E Minor is a gleaming example of how the internet is improving media.
If some days you feel like you’re treading water at your desk, the waterline lapping at your eyeballs, try dedicating 15 minutes to getting your creative juices flowing over at Lost At E Minor.
Lost At E Minor and Australian sports opinion site The Roar are published by Conversant Media, which I was delighted to discover is based in dinky-die Bondi Beach.
