Media Industry
Industry: Email Alert RSS FeedRedesigning women, Inc
Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, May 1, 1995 by Lori Marden
Boosting business skills has always been the main mission of Women in Business, the official magazine of the American Business Women's Association. Launched in 1949, the Kansas City-based title started as a how-to guide for the ABWA membership, with a one-size-fits-all approach, says chief editor Wendy Myers. Service journalism-oriented to a tee, the bimonthly was replete with stories that carried an endless stream of bulleted items, numbered points and articles outlining the top-10 ways to do business better. Mailed to 90,000 members, Women in Business also featured a design that busily competed with the editorial content.
Most RecentMedia Articles
- Apple (Corps) Tries To Avoid Apple (Inc.) Again This Holiday Season
- Today is the Deadline for a Revised Settlement in Google Books Case
- Media Agencies to Nielsen: We Really Want You to Change ... Kidding!
- Best Buy Spins Its Wheels in the Digital Movie Download Game
- Twitter Usage Is Down, But Don't Let It Fool You [Updated]
- More »
The first step in the overhaul process was to reposition the publication - from its generally broad approach of helping readers apply a wide range of skills suitable for a variety of jobs, to a narrower focus on the members themselves. "We wanted a warmer, friendlier approach, with an emphasis on networking, where women can learn business skills from one another," says Myers. Beginning with its January/February issue, the title adopts a story-telling approach, highlighting members' successes, while still advising readers of new opportunities.
In an effort to bring the graphics in sync with this new editorial approach, designer Randall Blair was brought on board to redesign the features well and give the title a softer look. Blair converted pages from a hard, busy layout to a cleaner, more businesslike design with feminine touches. Decks, callouts, subheads and a liberal use of white space now break up the previously gray field of type, and the body copy has been switched from the more-condensed Adobe Weiderman typeface to Caslon to give it a looser look
Another significant change involves ad placement: Blair reconstructed the features well, making it an ad-free zone in contrast to the once-random placement of ads throughout the book. Full-page ads now fall in the front of the book; partials at the back. Says Blair: "The new design has structure, but flows."
Nearly a year ago, the association converted to desktop publishing, a move that enables editors to handle columns and departments in-house. Based on sketches requested by magazine staffers, Blair created templates (to keep design consistent) that allow the editors to work within the design structure, dropping in text and graphics for the columns and departments. Illustrations and photos are chosen by the editors and can be sized and easily moved around on the page.
Features have gotten lengthier, too, adding to the evolution of the title. Women in Business, says Myers, is "always changing and growing because that's what the business world is all about."
Brought to you by CBS MoneyWatch.com
- Best- and Worst-Paid College Degrees
- 6 Things You Should Never Do on Twitter or Facebook
- How Much Sleep Do You Really Need?
- 6 Big Myths about Gas Mileage
Most Recent Business Articles
- Multiple criteria evaluation and optimization of transportation systems
- Multi-criteria analysis procedure for sustainable mobility evaluation in urban areas
- A two-leveled multi-objective symbiotic evolutionary algorithm for the hub and spoke location problem
- Multi-criteria analysis for evaluating the impacts of intelligent speed adaptation
- The development of Taiwan arterial traffic-adaptive signal control system and its field test: a Taiwan experience
Most Recent Business Publications
Most Popular Business Articles
- 7 tips for effective listening: productive listening does not occur naturally. It requires hard work and practice - Back To Basics - effective listening is a crucial skill for internal auditors
- FAS 109: a primer for non-accountants - Financial Accounting Standards Board's "Statement 109: Accounting for Income Taxes"
- Design a commission plan that drives sales - Sales Commissions
- LIFO vs. FIFO: a return to the basics
- Too Young to Rent a Car? - 25-years-old the minimum age for car renting - Brief Article



