{"id":13084,"date":"2010-10-14T09:32:33","date_gmt":"2010-10-14T07:32:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=13084"},"modified":"2010-11-04T10:28:59","modified_gmt":"2010-11-04T08:28:59","slug":"crush3-food-and-wine-digital-magazine-remains-unexciting-tries-too-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/crush3-food-and-wine-digital-magazine-remains-unexciting-tries-too-hard\/","title":{"rendered":"Crush!3 food and wine digital magazine remains unexciting, tries too hard!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>We have been critical of Crush!1<\/a><\/span><\/strong> and Crush2!,<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/a>the new food and wine digital magazine under the editorship of Michael Olivier, respected food and wine guru, as he calls himself on Twitter.\u00a0\u00a0 Our opinion has not changed after seeing Crush!3\u00a0 We are heartened to see that our feedback is being acknowledged and implemented up to a point.\u00a0\u00a0 The overwhelming feeling is that the designers are trying too hard to add design ‘bells and whistles’ which distract rather than add to the magazine.\u00a0This was reflected in\u00a0the following\u00a0Tweet on Twitter earlier this week:\u00a0 “luv your magazine idea but the technology you using is not user friendly. Why don’t you do trad website?”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

We are sad that Michael, a friend for many years,\u00a0has taken our feedback about the magazines so personally that he has chosen to not comment\u00a0on our blogposts\u00a0at all, no longer\u00a0acknowledges\u00a0my presence at functions, and\u00a0has blocked us on Twitter, a rather unprofessional reaction from what we have always believed to be a mature gentleman.<\/p>\n

Our\u00a0review of Crush3! is as follows:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0 The cover page has appetite appeal, but a new design feature is to show the cover shot change into a dirty used plate, not looking appetising at all.\u00a0\u00a0 The photography of this plate of food, from a feature on rosemary, does not come near the beautiful shot which was used for the cover of\u00a0Crush2!\u00a0\u00a0 The type relating to the content runs over the photograph, making most of it unreadable.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0 We are delighted that the video button has been taken off Micheal’s face on the Introduction page, our complaint of the previous two issues.\u00a0\u00a0 Michael also talks on the video without any clanging kitchen noises, as was the case in Crush2!\u00a0 The Content listing is an improvement.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0 Advertisers Old Mutual, The Kovensky Quartet of restaurants, Pick ‘n Pay, Pongracz, Arumdale and Welmoed remain faithful, with new advertiser Avontuur.\u00a0\u00a0Arabella wines\u00a0is no longer advertising.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0 When reading the Chenin Blanc sub-page on the “Michael says” page, the page rolls down too quickly when one clicks onto the arrow, for one to be able to read the page.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0\u00a0 On the ‘Essentials’ page there are no distracting flashes, and the brand names are typed at each\u00a0product, but brand and pack recognition for Dalla Cia, Imhoff Jams, Fairview Chevin and Mad\u00c3\u00a9casse Chocolates\u00a0is poor.<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0\u00a0 The Morgenhof advertorial is visually intriguing but totally spoilt by the Uwe Koetter ring competition block, spoiling\u00a0the appeal of this page.\u00a0\u00a0 The promotional box stays open\u00a0when one clicks onto\u00a0one of the four editorial boxes, making it impossible to read the windows about the restaurant, the coffee shop, the cellar and the owner, defeating the object of the exercise.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0\u00a0 The double page spread on snoek pate has five beverage bottles on it too, and one can only recognise the brand name of Steph Weiss beer.\u00a0 Even when “rolling” over the pics of the bottles of Danie de Wet Cape Muscadel, Klein Constantia Rhine Riesling, Douglas Green Fino No 1, and Mullineaux\u00a0one cannot read their labels.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0\u00a0 Andy Fenner’s “Jamie Who?'” page looks as it did in the previous issue, but the flashes are no longer petal-shaped, now being balloons.\u00a0 The content of these is boring.\u00a0\u00a0 One bubble opens onto ‘After Work Drinks’, and three are meant to be featured, but only Harvey’s Bar is visible.\u00a0\u00a0 The balloon bubbles flash even when one opens the balloon,\u00a0giving it a tacky feel.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0\u00a0 The “High Five” page is blocked by a promotion “Share the High Five with your friends”.\u00a0\u00a0 The Table Bay MCC Brut brand name is barely legible, being light blue.<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0 JP Rossouw has been overseas, so there\u00a0is no\u00a0review by him\u00a0in this issue.\u00a0 Michael has taken over the role, and has done a feature on La Motte, but once again a\u00a0competition block blocks the photograph of the grounds and buildings of the “new” La Motte.\u00a0 One cannot see how to close this block, which incorrectly spells the wine estate as ‘Lamotte’.\u00a0\u00a0 The competition does not call the reader to action – it leaves one feeling confused as to how to enter the competition. Whilst the La\u00a0 Motte pages have three La Motte wines on the page, with unreadable brand names, the placement of the Pongracz ad on the same page\u00a0seems to be\u00a0an error of judgement, especially given that La Motte recently launched its own sparkling wine!<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0 The ‘Quick & Delicious’ page is also blocked with a “make sure you are subscribed” block over the week’s recipe cards.\u00a0 A tiny packshot of Bisquit Cognac is barely readable and when one clicks onto it, it is yet another attempt to get one to subscribe.<\/p>\n

11.\u00a0\u00a0The “Cellar for later” page is fine and all\u00a0wine brand names\u00a0are clearly readable below the packs.\u00a0 However, on the “Quaff for now” page, the brand names of the white wines are typed in green, making them barely legible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

12.\u00a0\u00a0 A dreadful old-fashioned burlesque-type typeface is used for the main food feature, being “4 Ways with Rosemary”.\u00a0 As it is an ingredient, it is not visible in the food shots, other than in its subtle use in the styling.\u00a0\u00a0 The information about each of the four recipes in respect of\u00a0baking time and the number of persons that the recipe serves is barely readable.\u00a0\u00a0 This food feature is nowhere as yummy as the Lindt chocolate one was in the previous issue.<\/p>\n

13.\u00a0\u00a0 David Cope’s “The Foodie” page looks much better than in Crush2!, and has some brand carry-over from his blog with the red tablecloth.\u00a0 The “Midlands roadtripping” story has little interest to the mainly Cape Town readers.\u00a0\u00a0 There are tiny links at the bottom of the page that are barely visible,\u00a0being so small.<\/p>\n

14.\u00a0\u00a0 On the “Fresh Summer Food” one dish for Thai prawn cakes can be seen, yet a flash\u00a0highlights ‘five delicious recipes’.\u00a0 When one clicks onto that flash, it\u00a0just enlarges it, and does not\u00a0reveal the\u00a0other four recipes.<\/p>\n

15.\u00a0\u00a0 The feature on The Kitchen restaurant has a collection of\u00a0photographs to the left, but one cannot see that they are linked to the restaurant story.<\/p>\n

16.\u00a0 The endlessly long “We love Real Beer” feature is blocked by yet another subscription sign-up block!<\/p>\n

The design team clearly still tries too hard, making\u00a0Crush! off-putting to read.\u00a0 It is also too hard-sell, in\u00a0pushing its free subscription (most readers would not be reading the magazine if they had not subscribed to it)!\u00a0 Pushing its competitions at the expense of its own features or of advertisers’ brands is off-putting too, and reduces the value of their brands.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Our invitation to Michael to comment, issued in each of our reviews, still stands.\u00a0 To read Crush!3, click here.<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>(page 1 of the magazine has not been loading for a week now).<\/p>\n

POSTSCRIPT 17\/10<\/strong>: We are shocked that Michael Olivier, as editor of Crush!, can endorse a malicious campaign against us on Twitter as of last night, born out of a dinner of the Crush! editorial team, which included Michael Olivier, Sophia Lindop, Andy Fenner (Jamie Who?) and David Cope,\u00a0in reaction to our three reviews of Crush!.\u00a0 The driver of the campaign appears to be David Cope (the so-called ‘The Foodie’).\u00a0 This is a most childish and unprofessional reaction, that one would not have expected from the once highly regarded Michael Olivier.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

POSTSCRIPT 18\/10<\/strong>:\u00a0\u00a0 David Cope has taken great exception to having been outed, and is now hurling abuse at this writer via e-mail.\u00a0 Surprisingly Michael Olivier has done nothing to protect his honour and that of his publication.\u00a0 His broken page 1 has also not been fixed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

POSTSCRIPT 4\/11:<\/strong>\u00a0 Andy Fenner (JamieWho?) has announced his exit from Crush!\u00a0 He bases the decision on a collaboration with Woolworths, which has just been signed.\u00a0\u00a0 He may be smart in using this as a way out of Crush! to save his reputation, as he was part of the Crush! editorial team that launched the Twitter smear campaign, and is David Cope’s best friend.<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com<\/a>\u00a0 Twitter: @WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have been critical of Crush!1 and Crush2!,\u00a0 the new food and wine digital magazine under the editorship of Michael Olivier, respected food and wine guru, as he calls himself on Twitter.\u00a0\u00a0 Our opinion has not changed after seeing Crush!3\u00a0 We are heartened to see that our feedback is being acknowledged and implemented up to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,124,266,20,21,19],"tags":[5566,4505,7942,5961,6818,7945,7954,32366,7949,32378,5560,7939,7940,7938,1971,7951,6813,32400,3042,7947,7941,6804,5254,7946,4506,2688,413,1540,7948,2788,7955,2832,7952,924,957,229,7957,252,4326,7950,7953,4573,7956,7943,3159,1587,8400,6821,6807,7944,32373,171],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t