A question of balance: redesigning the Atlantic

Look behind the scenes at last fall's redesign of an icon of American journalism.

1. A general discussion: "For a graphic designer, few jobs are as challenging as designing a magazine. Unlike a logo or a poster, the design of which can rely on blunt simplicity, a magazine is a complex organism, the result of an intricate interplay of words and pictures. Any single issue represents thousands of minute decisions about typography, layout, photography, and illustration. And these decisions are made within an accepted system of conventions -- preconceptions we all share about how a magazine is read -- and more practical and mundane limitations like budgets and schedules...." A Question of Balance, the atlantic.com

2. A slightly more detailed take from the design studio: "When Pentagram undertook a redesign of the Atlantic -- the eighth in its history -- the goal was to establish an intelligent and striking framework for the magazine’s wide-ranging editorial voice."

3. Bonus gallery: 151 Years of Atlantic covers

To do two things at once is to do neither.*

The Autumn of the Multitaskers: "The rise of personalized technology was supposed to give us time and freedom. Instead, argues Walter Kirn, it has imprisoned us. With self-deprecating wit, Kirn takes us along on a bruising ride through multitasking hell, and explains why 'parallel processing' threatens both the brain and the GNP." Finalist, essays, American Society of Magazine Editors' Best American Magazine Writing 2008. (Walter Kirn, The Atlantic)

*--Publilius Syrus, Roman slave, first century B.C.

House cats know what they want and how to get it from you

Anyone who has ever had cats knows how difficult it can be to get them to do anything they don't already want to do. But it seems that the house cats themselves have had distinctly less trouble getting humans to do their bidding, according to a report published in the July 14th issue of Current Biology... (euerkalert)

Duck and cover: ASME's Top 40 Magazine Covers of the Last 40 Years

On October 17, 2005, the 40 greatest magazine covers of the last 40 years were unveiled at the 2005 American Magazine Conference (AMC) in Puerto Rico, by Mark Whitaker, Editor of Newsweek and President of American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME), and AMC Chairman Evan Smith, Editor of Texas Monthly.

Oh.

Researchers from Cleveland State University, for a recent journal article, assessed the physical traits of 195 female characters from the first 20 James Bond films, revealing that more were brunette than blond and that at least 90 percent were young, slim and of above-average looks. [Daily Telegraph (London), 6-7-09, via newsoftheweird.com]

Watching whales watching us

"Whales, we now know, teach and learn. They scheme. They cooperate, and they grieve. They recognize themselves and their friends. They know and fight back against their enemies. And perhaps most stunningly, given all of our transgressions against them, they may even, in certain circumstances, have learned to trust us again." (N.Y. Times Magazine)

White paper: "Consumers value magazines in their media mix. Do you?"

This Magazine Publishers of America white paper takes a look at ten key indicators of the strength of magazines.

Executive Summary:

1. Magazine readership increased over the past five years
2. The number of issues read has gone up as well
3. Subscriptions are the highest in a decade
4. The number of consumer magazines remains high
5. The age of magazine readers consistently trends younger than the total adult population
6. Magazines are the #1 medium of engagement
7. Magazine ad effectiveness continues to rise
8. Magazines excel in driving web search
9. Magazine readers are social networkers and word-of-mouth influencers
10. Magazine brands continue to evolve