Daily(Eye)Candy
by Stephanie Murg, (7 comments)
The trend-a-day email newsletter DailyCandy has received even more buzz than usual lately, due to a recent Wall Street Journal report that it was up for sale—for more than $100 million. According to an article in next week’s New York magazine, DailyCandy’s purchase (by “a big-time buyer”) is pending.
But there are those who, having sampled a morsel or two of DailyCandy, say they just don’t get it—what’s the big deal? So how did DailyCandy amass over one million subscribers and leave all of the other “Hey, look, buy this/go here!”-style newsletters in the dust? One word: branding.
Great design and successful branding are usually the product of intimate understanding: of what an organization or product does, why it does it, who it does it for. But, when something is new (and not even necessarily novel), there is that tiniest of windows (a porthole of opportunity, perhaps) when great design can catapult a product or company into prominence and help to define its activities, values, and audience—the stuff that most design is only intended to reinforce or echo.
Founded in 2000 by Dany Levy, DailyCandy began by creating a brand that appealed to its core audience: hip, stylish, and rather acquisitive young(ish) women. Enter artist Ruben Toledo, fashion illustrator extraordinaire. Toledo’s dreamy yet sophisticated watercolors—whether of sugar-dusted bonbons, elegant cityfolk, or a pair of impossibly pointy-toed shoes—were allowed to shine on DailyCandy’s otherwise minimalist website, where readers can now sign up for 13 different versions of the company’s newsletters.
DailyCandy was a perfect fit for Cuban-born Toledo, whose work has been exhibited at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Louvre. His signature style is confectionary, and he clearly appreciates the breezy fashion world as much as it does him. (His wife, Isabel, is a fashion designer.) “What I love about fashion is that it’s so sincere in the fact that it’s fake,” Toledo told Graphic Design USA. “Fashion is all about business. It’s all about selling. It’s all about N-E-W. It’s all about now. And it’s fast. I love fast.”
But when Toledo got big fast (his work now graces multi-page ads for Nordstrom, among other clients) he quietly stopped illustrating for DailyCandy. Artist Sujean Rim took over—seamlessly. With their shared light touch and whimsicality, it is very difficult to distinguish one artist’s long-limbed silhouettes and deftly-colored scenes from the other’s.
With a white background, a no-nonsense layout, and a single close-cropped photo of the day’s featured trend (a new line of knitwear, a $1,999 winemaker, Jonathan Antin’s shower water purifier), DailyCandy newsletters are designed brilliantly if with a rather troubling message: when you have style, substance is optional.
Comments (7)
Su said:
when you have style, substance is optional.
Sorry, but where the hell did that come from? It’s unclear whether there’s actually a point to this, or you’re just throwing random snark while walking out the door.
On the other hand, you pretty much completely fail to explain what’s so great about their design. While the illustrations are nice enough(though not at all to my taste), I tend to find DC’s overall design rather unfinished-feeling, and even a bit lazy in places.
Posted on April 29, 2006
Jessica Hood said:
I for one love DailyCandy’s illustrations. And I have to admit it was one of the major highlights of the site when I first discovered it!
Posted on April 29, 2006
Jake said:
This is the first I have heard of this site and I find it very interesting. I see what you mean about the art. It’s definitely a plus for the site. It fits the whole basis of the site very well.
100 million?! That sure does seem like a lot. I guess they must have done something right. The idea for the site seems so simple but yet very smart. It feeds information to people about culture. Now is that worth that kind of money? Well someone must think so.
Posted on April 29, 2006
John S. Leyba said:
Great post about something I knew little about.
However, I do know Silicon Valley, and I can definitely tell you, an email newsletter being on the chopping block for over $100 million is just idiocy. Or worse. This applies in NYC, too.
OTOH, DailyCandy reminds me of J. Peterman. I loved J. Peterman!
Posted on April 30, 2006
Stephanie said:
Thanks for the comment, John. I will be sure to keep BADG readers updated on the sale status of DailyCandy.
In the meantime, I wanted to be the first to tell you that the J. Peterman Co. is back! That’s right. Only two days ago I received Owner’s Manual No. 41 (Spring 2006), selling many of the same products as back in the good old days and with the exact same design (the entire catalog is still set in Beach), including color descriptions such as “Tangerine Orange and Pink, like the Bombay sunset.” Request your catalog today at jpeterman.com
Posted on April 30, 2006
JWH said:
i am a daily candy subscriber and i love it. regardless of what many think, the fact that this e-mail newsletter operation is now worth 100 million dollars signals how successful they have been with their design, illustration, and branding.
Posted on May 1, 2006
Jen Tank said:
I think you have it completely wrong. As a long time subscriber to Daily Candy LA and a graphic designer myself I would describe DC’s design as atrocious. It appears extermely amateur From the horrible type treatment of their logo (the letters are not even kerned properly!) to the cheesy drop shadow border around those close cropped photos. I will agree with Su,it looks unfinished.
The illustrations are nice, but not being supported at all by the poor typography.
The reason I still subscribe to Daily Candy is the editorial voice. The writing of each article seems to speak directly to me, like a truted friend. The writing is funny and direct, and the link outs are usually worth clicking on.
Although I have never purchased any of the products I am regularly inspired the Daily Candy showcase and continue to look forward to it every morning, but not in any way because of it’s branding.
Posted on September 12, 2006