The big city that never stops building; and the little bug that never stops breeding
The main cover story of Toronto Life's forthcoming February issue is about the booming building growth of downtown; almost in defiance of a major recession, the story reports, the city has 53 new corporate towers, luxury hotels and condos. Condo sales were up 16% in the 3rd quarter of 2009, compared with 2008.Another feature is a first hand account of dealing with a bedbug infestation.It's an interesting juxtaposition.
posted by D. B. Scott at
11:15 am
15 Comments:
World class.
The Toronto Life covers always seem to be designed awkwardly and without any verve, creativity, or concept.
Doesn't St.Joe's believe in point-of-purchase, or are they blindly confident that people will buy/subscribe no matter what the magazine looks like?
It does seem like St Joe's publications put out poor covers as compared to competitors, and awkward summarizes it well, particularly Canadian Family vs, Today's Parent.
I'd love to hear why that happens, and what can be learned to avoid it. In short, I'd love ot hear some expert analysis from someone with years in the industry.
I'm not really their target but I've seen both of those parenting mags and Today's Parent couldn't look like a more outdated magazine both outside and in. I've always thought that Canadian Family is very attractive even though I don't have kids.
Are you serious about Today's Parent looking outdated compared to Canadian Family? Just take a look at Canadian Family's cover it's staged. Someone pass me the air brush.
Sorry, I know this post started as a comment on TO life, but must chime in on the Today's Parent observations. It is not just dated but plain, old, ugly. Busy. Messy. I guess they don't have to be more, because they don't rely heavily on newsstand sales.
Canadian Family presents as a fun, and beautiful crafted, MODERN brand. Absolutely no comparison visually.
I was just going to keep my thoughts to myself on this one... BUT, that last "anonymous" comment is just plain ridiculous. As a consumer who adores magazines, I have to say that Canadian Family consistently produces covers that are dynamic and interesting. A nice contrast to the bland, Stepford baby, best-of-Sears-portraits-collection covers of their competitor. Say what you want about Toronto Life (I'm not always the biggest fan of their covers) but of the parenting mags, I'm impressed with Canadian Family month after month. (And before I get flamed, I don't work for St. Joe's OR Rogers.)
@Anonymous (5:35pm):
Thanks, Mom.
As a member of their intended audience, I can tell you Canadian Family has both the design the style down. Today's Parent is just another knock off of the fifty US magazines with some variation on the name - stuffed with recycled content, Toys R Us gear and formula ads. Canadian Family is anything but that in content and style.
Also an interesting juxtaposition (see post) is what this stream of comments has turned into: from comments about our country's edgiest city magazine to a whose-kid-is-cuter playground brawl. WTF?
Re the digression into Today's Parent vs. Canadian Family. As a parent, I actually read the magazines. Today's Parent is hands down the best in terms of thoughtful, well-crafted and information-packed service. That's what matters most, and that's why it's a far superior book. A knock-off of American parenting mags? Read the thing: it's all Canadian, all the time. That's why it has such a strong subscriber base, no doubt, not to mention PMB numbers. That's more telling of quality and relevance to readers than the shallow opining over design filling up this thread. Excuse me, gotta go burp someone.
@ Anonymous:
How is Toronto Life the countries edgiest city mag...it is so poorly put together and has gone down hill since Fulford and Rose took over. If you consider edgy poorly place type and no concepts than I guess it must be edgy. I miss the days of Macfarlane and Moskot.
This mom agrees. I used to have subscriptions to both, and Today's Parent isn't as pretty but much more helpful.
I'll throw in another vote for Today's Parent's editorial being top notch. The design might not be edgy or innovative, but it's clean and readable. I LOVE TP.
Today's Parent is good but not as good and not as original.
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