A Magazine in Nine Innings
May 23, 2012 12:39 PM Subscribe
The Eephus League presents: a web magazine about baseball.
Man, I hate to pile on, because this could be cool. But, yeah, the design. Just a warning, if you're thinking about checking this out on a mobile device, don't. Wait til you're back at your computer.
posted by .kobayashi. at 1:01 PM on May 23, 2012
posted by .kobayashi. at 1:01 PM on May 23, 2012
Even my desktop computer is struggling on this thing. I think it can only be properly viewed on a Mac Pro placed somewhere with exposed brick and 20-foot ceilings.
posted by theodolite at 1:06 PM on May 23, 2012 [4 favorites]
posted by theodolite at 1:06 PM on May 23, 2012 [4 favorites]
It's gorgeous in its own broken way.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 1:08 PM on May 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Foci for Analysis at 1:08 PM on May 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
Teaches a bit of baseball lore and a bit of computer lore: how to make a site too much trouble to bother about. Needs more Brit to narrate?
posted by Cranberry at 1:12 PM on May 23, 2012
posted by Cranberry at 1:12 PM on May 23, 2012
It seems more an exercise in design than a magazine about baseball ...
From the creator:
From the creator:
"The Eephus League Magazine has been a long time coming. It began as a project in the MFA program at MICA, and I had every intention of expanding it into a real part of the Eephus League. Several months, a new city and new job later, I’ve decided to re-imagine the magazine as an online reading experience. The online format allows me to explore new web techniques as well as making it easier to distribute. I have to credit Edits Quarterly for the beautiful format inspiration."posted by ericb at 1:21 PM on May 23, 2012
I have to credit Edits Quarterly for the beautiful format inspiration.
Edits Quarterly.
posted by ericb at 1:22 PM on May 23, 2012
Edits Quarterly.
posted by ericb at 1:22 PM on May 23, 2012
ericb, I figured that as so many of the articles refer to designers. I guess what I meant was that the experiment in design overwhelms the content to the extent that it ceases to be, as advertised, "a web magazine about baseball" and is instead a web magazine about web magazine design that takes baseball as a sometime inspiration. I do think it looks wonderful; I'm a big fan of the aesthetics of historical baseball, which this is obviously channeling. But the interface is far too obtrusive and present for me to really enjoy the content, which is what I clicked on the link for. I hope as the creator continues to experiment she is able to find a more comfortable medium between form and content that maintains the aesthetic qualities without sacrificing usability.
posted by synecdoche at 1:27 PM on May 23, 2012
posted by synecdoche at 1:27 PM on May 23, 2012
(looks around at exposed brick and tall ceilings, returns to Mac to comment)
I liked it.
posted by bbuda at 1:40 PM on May 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
I liked it.
posted by bbuda at 1:40 PM on May 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
Foci for Analysis: "It's gorgeous in its own broken way."
We are talking about baseball here, so hmmm....
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:42 PM on May 23, 2012 [2 favorites]
We are talking about baseball here, so hmmm....
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:42 PM on May 23, 2012 [2 favorites]
Yeah, I can tell it's almost amazing, but on my Windows box with Chrome it just kind of... vomits. As it kind of chunks by I can see little bits and pieces that make me go, "Oooh! That's pretty!" But it's all entirely too muddled and confusing and difficult to navigate for me to care at all, which is a shame.
posted by kbanas at 1:44 PM on May 23, 2012
posted by kbanas at 1:44 PM on May 23, 2012
I am on a MacBook Pro somewhere with exposed brick and 20-foot ceilings, and everything seems A-OK over here.
Joking aside, my conclusions are about the same as has already been voiced in the thread. I thought the concept of a 'web magazine' was dead. Dead, buried, forgotten, good riddance. A website is not a digital magazine -- the content may be similar but the design paradigm does not hold and never has. Every site that I've seen published in the magazine format has eventually relented and switched to something that makes sense for the web.
I still have to commend them for putting this together. Design objections aside -- this content is right up my alley, and they've done a great job with it.
posted by workingdankoch at 2:50 PM on May 23, 2012
Joking aside, my conclusions are about the same as has already been voiced in the thread. I thought the concept of a 'web magazine' was dead. Dead, buried, forgotten, good riddance. A website is not a digital magazine -- the content may be similar but the design paradigm does not hold and never has. Every site that I've seen published in the magazine format has eventually relented and switched to something that makes sense for the web.
I still have to commend them for putting this together. Design objections aside -- this content is right up my alley, and they've done a great job with it.
posted by workingdankoch at 2:50 PM on May 23, 2012
Edits Quarterly's navigation feels a little better: the "hops" on down-arrow make more sense and are cleaner. But both sites seem to get confused if you start navigating by arrow, scroll wheel for a bit, then navigate by arrow again.
Still, both the interface and content were interesting to me, so I'm pleased. Thanks for sharing!
posted by Several Unnamed Sources at 3:37 PM on May 23, 2012
Still, both the interface and content were interesting to me, so I'm pleased. Thanks for sharing!
posted by Several Unnamed Sources at 3:37 PM on May 23, 2012
Okay, yeah, once I got home and could look at it on a proper machine, I found that the content was really cool. Thanks for sharing!
posted by .kobayashi. at 4:10 PM on May 23, 2012
posted by .kobayashi. at 4:10 PM on May 23, 2012
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posted by synecdoche at 12:58 PM on May 23, 2012 [1 favorite]