Balance magazine

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    • 2 February, 2011 at 1:11 pm #9934
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Fans of Diabetes UK will have just received their copy of the new look Balance magazine. Can anyone identify the font used for the title? It looks like it should be a sans serif font, but it actually has quite prominent serifs – curious really.

    • 2 February, 2011 at 1:21 pm #12114
      Stephen
      Participant

      Photo?

    • 2 February, 2011 at 1:24 pm #12115
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Hell, you’re demanding ;-)

      I don’t have a handy photo here and DUK don’t have the new look magazine on their website (http://www.diabetes.org.uk/How_we_help/Magazines/Balance/) so…uhm…

    • 2 February, 2011 at 1:58 pm #12116
      Cecile
      Participant

      According to WhatTheFont, the old look is one of 2 Transits, 2 Frutigers or a Humanist (kind old thing!). Scan your magazine and feed it to WTF ?

    • 2 February, 2011 at 3:06 pm #12117
      lizz
      Participant

      Oooh, it’s LUVVERLY.

    • 2 February, 2011 at 3:08 pm #12118
      lizz
      Participant

      Looks quite like Amasis.

    • 2 February, 2011 at 3:11 pm #12119
      lizz
      Participant

      Also quite similar to cambria

    • 2 February, 2011 at 4:00 pm #12120
      Tim
      Keymaster

      I think it’s spikier than both Amasis & Cambria. I’ll have to do the WTF thing.

    • 2 February, 2011 at 5:06 pm #12121
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      *feels lost and confused*

    • 2 February, 2011 at 6:06 pm #12122
      lizz
      Participant

      It is, I’ve been looking closely at it in a nerdy way. I’d love to know, it’s very elegant.

    • 3 February, 2011 at 9:31 am #12124
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Personally I think the serifs are a bit too long and the spacing between letters is a bit inconsistent. But, overall I like the new look.

      I think my favourite bit of the magazine is the letters page – where people bitch about it being too focussed on type 1 one week and then too much on type 2 the next week. Also if they publish an inspiring article about someone with diabetes climbing a mountain or something, they get a flurry of letters saying “diabetes isn’t all fun and games, you know!” and if they have an article about feet rotting off they get letters about “how dare you be so pessimistic!” Sometimes I feel sorry for DUK, they just can’t win sometimes.

    • 3 February, 2011 at 10:53 am #12127
      Alison
      Keymaster

      @neobrainless I’m with you!

    • 3 February, 2011 at 1:36 pm #12128
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      New look balance is much improved (especially the lower-case b how very ‘modern’). The version before last wasn’t too bad, but the look that’s just been changed was eye-searingly awful.

      Cross that they didn’t mention my carb counting rant, even though they said they were going to. At least there are a few other references to the concept that carb counting/DAFNE etc might be worth thinking about, probably, maybe telling one or two folks rather than just leaving them completely floundering in the dark.

    • 3 February, 2011 at 3:48 pm #12130
      lizz
      Participant

      I look at the letters page first always, it’s my fave too. I am much happier that nowadays they at least let letters in about animal insulin – I wrote so many, over so many years, and they were always ignored.

      I’ve always thought not carb counting to be MADNESS. I was diagnosed 40 years ago, by my GP, who gave me a calorie diet by mistake and no help whatsoever, but a few years later after innumerable hypos at night at least I was given a ‘line’ diet by my next Dr.

      I simply cannot understand how diabetics are supposed to match their insulin requirements against the food they eat and get it right unless they know how much carbohydrate there is in everything. Its always struck me rather like that fashion for not teaching children how to spell.
      Except that it’s taken a lot longer for them to come to their senses and even now they don’t teach anyone!

      Of course there were things wrong with the old ‘line’ or ‘exchange’ diet. For example they thought diabetics were too simple to work it unless they made ALL food into 10g portions. that meant a piece of bread was 10g, so was an apple. Which meant a person very sensitive to food and insulin rations was at a big disadvantage, not realising until I got my pump that actually a small piece of bread is more like 15g and an apple can be 22g.

      Perhaps we could have a dedicated rant page here Tim? With roars and claps and fire and scream icons?

    • 3 February, 2011 at 4:01 pm #12132
      Hairy Gnome
      Participant

      I used to subscribe to DUK, but I gave up when they started taking me for granted. I hated it when they started sending me raffle tickets to sell, the first couple of times I ended up buying them all myself, but in the end they went straight into the recycling bin and I ended my subscription. Too much like bullying to my mind!

    • 3 February, 2011 at 4:34 pm #12133
      Tim
      Keymaster

      @lizz – I couldn’t agree with you more. As I was diagnosed only five years ago and go to a relatively enlightened clinic I was trained up on carb counting from the very beginning and don’t know any different. But quite how people can live with diabetes without carb counting is completely beyond me.

    • 3 February, 2011 at 4:36 pm #12134
      Tim
      Keymaster

      @teloz – I just shake out all the crap from Balance (sorry, balance) into the recycling bin. I’m not much into raising money for diabetes charities as I’m jist not entirely convinced they won’t piss my money up the wall.

    • 6 February, 2011 at 11:45 pm #12153
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      The masthead is Frutiger Serif – the whole magazine is set in a mix of Frutiger Serif and Sans.

    • 7 February, 2011 at 8:52 am #12154
      Tim
      Keymaster

      @eustonian – thanks John! You sound like you have inside knowledge!

    • 9 February, 2011 at 3:22 pm #12183
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Guilty as charged – I work in the publications team at Diabetes UK. Glad the overall response to the new look seems positive (despite the curiously oversized serifs)

    • 9 February, 2011 at 4:46 pm #12184
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Ooooooh I do like a spot of Frutiger

      Hadn’t come across Frutiger serif. Good job on the redesigned version John :)

    • 10 February, 2011 at 2:14 pm #12185
      Tim
      Keymaster

      For those that care, Frutiger was originally designed as a sans-serif font and the serifs were added later. That’s why it looks odd – in my view ;-)

    • 10 February, 2011 at 11:22 pm #12187
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I found myself wondering whether Adrian (Mr Frutiger to you) had anything to do with it… Turns out he did. Which is nice. Full typogeekery here:
      http://www.linotype.com/5368/adrianfrutigersnewesttypefacefrutigerserif.html

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