Reincarnation

When Domino folded, I was sad. Really sad. Looking around my apartment, most of what I see was lifted from the mag's lovely, oh-so-imitable pages. While I suppose "reincarnation" isn't quite the right term - since Design*Sponge was founded in 2004 while Domino was still alive and well - this new-to-me blog feels like the magazine's rebirth. With its sweet design, structured editorial calendar (different types of posts go up on certain days of the week) and fun categories (mini trends, DIYs, and before & afters), exploring Design*Sponge feels like flipping through the department pages of my former favorite mag.

This shouldn't be surprising, since Design*Sponge's editor, Grace Bonney, was a Domino contributing editor (as well as a freelancer for a host of other mags, including In Style and House and Garden). In additon to Bonney, Design*Sponge's staff includes a handful (well, a couple handfuls) of editors, writers and photographers who produce mainly original content for the blog, though some photos and articles are pulled from other sites or magazines.

Grace Bonney (from Design*Sponge)

I think the strength of Design*Sponge is that it avoids the thrown-together look of many popular blogs (as it well should, with its design focus). Although I'm a loyal Trent fan, my eyes glaze over after even a quick scroll on Pink is the New Blog, and one look at Drudge Report is enough to send me into a rage. Design*Sponge's layout and design is well-targeted to its predominantly female, fashion-y audience concerned with aesthetics. And though it seems to cater to women in their 30s and 40s with money to burn on ceramic goat statues and velvet upholstered chairs, it does nod to us 20-somethings with a "budget" tab filled with "under $100" goodies.

Is this the future of magazines? If so, would that be such a bad thing? Blogs are cheaper to produce, and they probably fit better with today's over-booked, attention span-deprived lifestyle. I know that, personally, I don't have time to sit and read an entire magazine cover to cover. Or, more accurately, I feel guilty for taking an hour out of my insane schedule of school, teaching, and internships to indulge in 100 pages of "fluff." On the flip side, I also feel guilty about the magazines piling up in the corner of my living room. But easy to read, prettified daily blog posts that take 30 seconds to read? That I can handle.

If forced to say something negative about Design*Sponge, I suppose I found the numerous navigation links across the top and down the left column of the page a bit confusing at first. And the blog's editors might actually do too good a job of merging borrowed content from other sites with original content, as it's sometimes difficult to tell which is which. But really, I'm an unapologetic fan of this blog as of right now.