I’ve recently come across The Penguin Blog, suggested to me by one of other social media site I’ve found myself a member of recently.  And its lovely.  I don’t normally find web and blog design exciting, its something I do at Litfest with reluctance and with constant muttering of obscenities when I’m forced to mess with CSS and <div> tags.  But, as with all things Penguin, this has taken a literary blog to a new level.

Penguin Blog 29 January 2009

You can’t go wrong with thier nice orange, but the subtlty of application is really nice, as is the type style.  Very clean and simple.

But, its about content isn’t it.  And the content is excellent.  Anyone interested in publishing, from now matter which point, writer, designer, editor, publicist, will find it interesting.  I am particulalry taken with Sale Manager Fiona Buckland’s peice on selling books in hard economic times and what it could mean for us, at Litfest and Flax.  And my conclusion is that it is about value.  What Penguin offered back in the 30s and today with its recent big ideas and similar ranges, is brilliant value.  They look beautiful, they are interesting, they are accessible.  And you don’t even have to talk about the cost.  The are not “value for money”, just value.

All hail Penguin!

Martin the designer