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Magazine Design

I'm just finishing my first week of shared care with my daughter. No more alternate weekends. I'm glad to say it all went down without a single cent being given to lawyers. A tribute to being reasonable and both parents caring for their child and putting their personal differences aside. So I blog a little less.

Further to my previous post about car magazines. Wait…before you change the channel there is a point…stay with me.

This evening I took Zoe to the public library - readers are leaders. While we were there I picked up a couple of issues of Road & Track magazine. I have to say that it is a fantastic publication. I was first introduced to it back in the 1970's by my boss, Eddie the Milkman who had imported a beautiful Mercedes into New Zealand from the United States where he and his family had lived for many years. In those days it was hard to get your hands on new cars. Eddie had a big pile of R&T and I hoovered them up - in between painting his roof and manually digging a hole for his swimming pool and working seven nights a week as a milk delivery boy(I was pretty driven to make cash as a teenager).

Looking at the mag now I see the clear threads back to those old editions. Its heritage and inherent qualities remain. It is a brilliant magazine for motoring enthusiasts. I'm going to subscribe. Unlike Top Gear from the UK it relies less on polemic and more on objectively focused journalism. And, while the design is crisp and highly useable, it isn't such a major component as it is in Intersection.

Here is my question/point:

Should design/packaging be used to mask an absence of substance.

Said it before and I will say it again:

Simplicity,
Utility,
Relevance.

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