This blog post was originally published Sunday, Feb. 22, on Medium.com
Full page promotion for NYT Magazine in The New York Times
Much will be written across social media in the week ahead about the new look of The New York Times Magazine.
If doing “print happily” is more than just a catchy phrase (I hope not), then the NYT Magazine has taken the happy part forward tenfold. More importantly, the new NYT Magazine has moved the issue of frequency to center stage (valuable lesson for publishers of newspapers and magazines everywhere), and it has enhanced the print edition while expanding its usefulness across the other platforms.
Let me review the new and much improved NYT Magazine in an outline format that follows my thoughts exactly as they poured into my head as I looked at it early Sunday morning in the comfort of home:
1. So many ads: Indeed, it is great to flip through so many ads at the start of this first edition of NYT Magazine with its new look. The editor’s note reminds us that this edition of the Magazine has more pages of advertising than any issue since October 2007. The ads are attractive and appear to blend well with the rest. Just grabbing the robust edition of the magazine in your hand already signals that there is plenty to look at. I maintain that when it comes to print, the “package” one feels in his hands has a lot to do with the expectations and the satisfactions.
2. All those covers: if you don’t like the cover with its simple but appropriate headline, “Hello, World”, turn the page and there is another version of that cover, and then two more.
3. Type as showcase: The magazine’s logo was redrawn by the great typographer Matthew Carter. Notice that there is what the editor refers to as “a cousin”, the smaller version of the logo to be used in more casual settings like social media. I like that reference: print is the formal, digital the more casual.Suit and tie. Open shirt. Page 51 of this first edition gives the term “type attack” new visual meaning with a design that shows us what type variations can do to bring content to our attention. Notice the distinct contrast of italics, bold and Roman for a large text introduction. Bravo.
4. The grid: Excellent use of white space throughout, and a 3 1/2 column grid that facilitates the introduction of secondary readings, “whispers” and other elements to lure scanners to the text.
5. Color hints: This is a genuine display of black and white as centerpieces of a color palette. The result is elegant and inviting. But, alas, when color is introduced with light touches, such as blue for data, it stands out and functions extremely well.
6. Tempos: It is not all violins playing in the new NYT Magazine. While the serif fonts dominate, the design pulls no punches when it wishes to convey a newsier feel, as in a piece about the rise of Hong Kong’s democracy movement: the use of bold sans head and a variation on a 2 1/2 column grid signal that the robust sound of trombones also has a place in this new design.
7. Photography: Superb selection of photos, and in the true spirit of traditional magazine design, we see portraits playing a key role, but also photo illustrations.
8. Table of contents: This is not just a guide to that story and page you are looking for. It is also an opportunity for the editors to remind readers that there is more to NYT Magazine than ink on paper. The digital navigation urges readers to “listen,” “to browse,” “to cook” and even “to guess” (Readers try to diagnose the condition on the Well blog…)
9. Frequency circa 2015: With the media quartet thriving, the new NYT Magazine abandons the notion that this is a Sunday only product and introduces us to the “An All-New Daily Magazine” (with daily online-only writing and photography). The editors are too kind when they say that “We are late to this party”. Not really. And, even if they are, the fact that such a respected and imitated publication like the NYT Magazine embarks into daily offerings will be sending a signal to publications everywhere that it is time to destroy old notions of time and frequency of publication. It is content now.
10. The digital experience: It is not just that there will be a NYT Magazine component available daily. It is also that there will be enhanced feature design with “screen-busting photography and design….that will bring the online reading experience—on your laptop, phone or tablet——closer to the print magazine. Also, there will be podcasts , as for the new Ethicists column.
This is, indeed, a celebration for print, not just because here print is done happily, but because the new NYT Magazine embraces the best of what good print magazine has always been about—providing a rich experience through the texture of type, photography and illustration as we flip through the pages—but also because it reaffirms that there is a great place for print once it is conceptualized and designed to be part of a media quartet and not its main component.
Bravo to the NYT Magazine team. You have no idea what major contribution your new product will be to our discussions of traditional and digital journalism.
You are showing by example. I can’t think of a better textbook in the market today.
In their own words:
Behind the Relaunch of the New York Times Magazine
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/22/magazine/behind-the-relaunch-of-the-new-york-times-magazine-by-jake-silverstein.html?_r=0
Of related interest
Medium version of this blog post
Today's NYT Mag relaunch: for students it's textbook design and disruption
http://ronreason.com/designwithreason/2015/02/22/todays-nyt-mag-relaunch-for-students-its-textbook-design-and-disruption/#.VOoPTE3c6Og.twitter
The New NYT Magazine: 10 Reasons Why It Matters
https://medium.com/@DrMarioRGarcia/the-new-nyt-magazine-10-reasons-why-it-matters-19302fd12099