When is it Time to Redesign?

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, March, 2000 by Bob Moseley

A new editorial focus, staff changes, and a desire to keep a magazine fresh are among the reasons why editors decide to update the look of a magazine.

Eric Effron

Editor

Brill's Content

We redesigned our February issue, which has JonBenet Ramsey on the cover. It had been 15 issues since our last redesign. For us, the reason was a combination of feedback and our own sense that we were outgrowing our original template. As we kept adding features, columns and special reports, the magazine began to take on a hodgepodge feeling. Our original design was fine, but we were sort of outgrowing it and didn't know how to stay within it. It wasn't as easy to navigate anymore, and you really didn't know where you were in the book--the back or the front. We wanted more of a unified look, so you could open up a particular page and know exactly what magazine it was.

Steve Coomes

Editor in chief

Pizza Today

It seems that there's an unspoken rule in the publishing industry that a magazine needs to be redesigned about every five years. We'd agree with that idea for three reasons: It consistently gives readers something fresh to look at; it doesn't happen so often that readers become confused by the new look; and it makes the job interesting for the magazine's staff.

Pizza Today just underwent a complete overhaul. Over the past year, we've added several new staffers who recognized the need for a more contemporary design. We looked at a multitude of other magazines (both inside and outside of foodservice trade publishing), studied ideas we liked, and twisted and tweaked them to fit our audience's tastes.

We've enlarged our photos and added more white space to layouts. Our art illustrations are now a little more tongue-in-cheek and humorous. Stories are about 30 percent shorter.

We came out with a new product that we're proud of.

Michael Miller

Editor in chief

PC Magazine

It's time for a redesign when you want your readers to notice changes in your magazine. You can redesign to highlight new content, new organization, or a change in emphasis. For instance, at PC Magazine, we continue to emphasize labsbased testing of the computing and Internet products people need to run their businesses. But over the past few years, the kinds of products we test have changed. We needed to make sure that change was clear to all of our readers.

In addition, we've integrated our print magazine very closely with our Web site, which features daily trend stories, first looks at new products, and enhanced coverage of many topics. We called in Walter Bernard and Milton Glaser, who helped us create a redesign that kept in place the heritage of the magazine, but updated for the new environment.

Peter Francesconi

Editorial director

USTA Magazine

USTA Magazine goes to nearly 500,000 members of the United States Tennis Association, most of whom are avid tennis players. One of the reasons we timed our redesign for January 1999 was to coincide with a new administration taking over the reins of the USTA. We wanted a fresh look to reflect the new and exciting leadership the organization was bringing in. The old design had been in place for two years and was looking tired. Our art director, Kirsten Navin, came up with a design that allows for more flexibility and helps convey the excitement of the sport. We also renamed the magazine (it was formerly called Tennis USTA) to further reinforce the USTA brand.

Maria Rodale

Editor, Organic Gardening

President, Rodale Organic Living division

There are four different signs that tell me it's time for a redesign. The first is lagging business--lagging subscriptions, lagging advertising, lagging anything. Number two is a change in personnel. A new editor always wants to have his or her own design--including me. A new look personalizes the product with both words and images. The third redesign signal is when the product needs to be redefined, reinvented or refocused for any reason. And the fourth signal is when the magazine starts to get boring to the staff. If the editor or art director is getting bored, chances are that the readers are probably getting bored, too.