Change by design: a look at eight redesigns - why they were done and what they achieved

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, May, 1990 by David Merrill

From a pure design standpoint, the new World Tennis is very exciting and colorful. There are bars and rules and cap initials and other design tools used in new and unique ways. However, here comes the however. Type is an integral part of any magazine design, but it's also supposed to be read. In a section called "Around the World," there are three different body copy typefaces: an all caps serif, an all caps sans serif and a bold U&LC. As a reader, I find it disturbing and very difficult to plow through. Type is a design element-but we should remember that it's not only or even primarily a design element.

Deeper into the magazine there is a 10-page feature with a very readable serif face, set 10 on 11-but to a measure of 26 picas, which is very wide for type that size if you want your readers to stay with it. I'm 48 and I wear bifocals. Call me an old fuddy-duddy, but I still want type to be easily readable. Golf Digest The New York Times' Gotf Digest is another example of fine tuning. The logo has been enlarged and italicized, but I still don't think it's as well designed as primary competitor Golf. (However, you may discount my opinion because I did two redesigns of Times Mirror's Golf, which were fine tuning" jobs as well.)

The most apparent change is that the magazine's width has been increased an inch, to nine inches. The depth remains at 103/4 inches. The big spread feature stories look definitely better. Art director Nick DiDio, who worked with designer Michael Brent on the redesign, says, "The new look is cleaner and more contemporary,"-two the primary buzz words we designers use.

When the magazine is in a three-column format, the columns are correspondingly wider and the leading between lines increased, which keeps it very easy to read.

Having an unusual shape can cause problems with and for advertisers, although I found only one ad with an obvious extra inch of white space in the gutter. No one but a critic would notice that some standard 7 X 10s were floating a bit from side to side.

Department heads are italicized to match the new logo, giving the magazine a more unified look.

Working on a golf magazine is a little easier than working on many other types of magazines because there are always gorgeous photos.

Polo

Editor in chief Ami Shinitzky of Polo properly praises the redesign, and with unusual candor explains in a letter to readers, "Beyond trying to do a better job for our current readers, we have two other goals: to attract more readers and advertisers." And she suggests, "If our effort is worthy, it would be wonderful if you'd give a gift subscription or two."

The logo is much improved, I think. Rebus logos can be like the same joke told over and over. Approriate for kids perhaps but not for polo enthusiasts.

The new interior design is much more elegant, as it should be, sandwiched as it is between Rolls Royce and Rolex ads.

Like golf magazines, Polo has the advantage of beautiful action photos of the sport. But Polo doesn't rest on that-they have some handsome illustrations as well.