Time's new look, looks familiar, says Maclean's:
In the note from the editors, Maclean's suggests this week that the much ballyhooed redesign of Time magazine looks an awful lot like Maclean's own redesign of November 2005.In concert with Maclean's centenary in November 2005, we waved goodbye to news rehashes, and cut back on lifestyle and service journalism. We committed ourselves to forward-looking coverage of news and current affairs. Our national, world, and business sections expanded. We strengthened the magazine's own voice with weekly editorials and consistently witty and provocative covers. We introduced a bevy of compelling new columnists, including Mark Steyn and Scott Feschuk. We also redesigned our inside pages, limiting the size of pictures and headlines in order to increase the total amount of reading material in every issue (we now offer 50 per cent more text and twice as many stories each week). And we set aside our rainbows of coloured type to concentrate on traditional news colours: black, white, red and yellow.Lo and behold, says Maclean's, the redesign of Time came out a couple of weeks ago and
Its editor claims a renewed emphasis on news and current affairs. He introduces new columnists and promises more point of view. The new design allows for more text, smaller pictures and headlines. It features black, white, red, yellow type. There are boxes at the top of the cover with headlines and pictures. There are more (efforts at) humour and a (mildly) edgier tone overall. The magazine has also changed its weekly date of publication from Monday to Thursday [Maclean's had already changed from a Monday to a Thursday pub date.][We were tipped to this item by an item in a blog published by Foreign Policy magazine.]Time wrote a special feature on all the deep, original thinking and high-priced design expertise that contributed to its new look. We have to admit, our first impulse was to call foul. Then we remembered we kind of owe Time for all the years we followed its lead. It also occurred to us that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So, after all that, we've simply decided to blush.
posted by D. B. Scott at
10:00 pm
1 Comments:
I think magazine design follows fads, just like home decorating. In the 1990s, for instance, every magazine redesign turned into a watered-down Wired.
The design here isn't exactly cutting-edge. It's like saying, "Hey, they painted their living room beige, and I painted mine beige two years ago. What copycats!"
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home