In the words of my good friend Rossi Dixon, “this makes fonts sexy again.” Fontplore is, quite possibly, the best use of the Microsoft Surface table technology I have seen thusfar. As an interactive font exploration device it is miles and miles ahead and above any organisational tool yet devised for typeface management. I want one. No really, I want one right now. Unfortunately it’s not ready yet… and even when it is I’m sure the cost will place it farther out of my grasp than a trip to the moon.

From the website: “As the development and distribution of interactive tables is still in its early days, we see the Fontplore Table as some kind of customer attraction for the bigger design agencies, where clients and designers get together and share the experience of selecting a suitable typeface for the project.” The video of the prototype in action is quite exciting. In fact Rossi and I both watched it over and over while frantically typing out messages of awe and excitement to each other over AIM… but we’re geeky that way. You may or may not have the same reaction, assuming you’re equally geeky about design and technology and have a friend also equally geeky. The music is also rather awesome.

Fontplore Showreel from Mphasize on Vimeo.

The project is a creative lifestyle magazine that with each issue will visit a new theme and then explore topics within that theme. We plan on inviting artists, photographers, designers, and writers to participate with each issue theme and truly live up to the name variantMethod. Our brand inspirations are publications like GOOD and WIRED magazine, but we’ll be bringing a bit more attitude to the page.

We’ll be using Hewlett-Packard’s MagCloud service as our printing solution, EXCITING!

Look for it in 2010. Or keep the website on your radar for any project updates.