As a country renowned for taste and style it is little surprise that Italy’s brands have such a strong aesthetic identity. Monocle delves into the nation’s visual history and charts its most striking logos.
If you’ve been to the US, it’s likely that Donald Meeker gave you directions. He’s the graphic designer whose wayfinding systems keep millions of people on track every day.
Octagonal stop signs are a common sight across the globe. Not so in Japan, where a red inverted triangle with “Tomare” (“Stop”) in Japanese characters is the standard. Now Japan’s National Police Agency is considering…
The world's governments would be lost without interpreters. Meet the old hands at the UN headquarters and the students who will help us understand one another in the years ahead. Without these guys, nothing gets done.
Residents of Lebanon’s mountainous Chouf region meet each week in the Moukhtara Palace in Beirut. There, greeted with hot Turkish coffee, Arab hospitality makes them feel right at home.
Spain is doing an eloquent job of selling itself around the world by using its language to introduce people to its customs and culture. We meet the Madrid and Tokyo branches of the Instituto Cervantes’ global network.
One of the few unifying experiences in multi-lingual Switzerland is Rainer Maria Salzgeber’s TV coverage of the national football team’s matches. The presenter says the sport can help the nation become more tolerant of…
With our 100th issue landing at the beginning of 2017, we’ve resolved to take a refreshing look at the ideas and innovators that are setting the tone for the new year. From learning a language in the Netherlands to keeping…
With a shortage of workers and an ageing population, Germany is turning to migrants to fill the void. Monocle meets the keen Vietnamese students learning German as they prepare for a new career abroad.
The South Korean capital is energetic and sprawling; it’s a 24-hour city that’s home to some 10 million people and plenty of brightly lit billboards, skyscrapers and shops. But that’s not all. Beyond the colourful clutter…
An explosion of state-funded English-language news channels are attempting to transmit not just the news but their country’s brand. From Moscow to Mumbai we report on the new broadcast empires and ask if this is just pro…
