Don't screw it up

Commentary June 17, 2008 at 08:00 PM
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The Senior Market Advisor staff met yesterday for what we call Vision Day. We meet like this once a year to take stock of what we're doing well, see where there's room for improvement and plan for the year ahead. This year's meeting included an additional subtext: We're in the midst of a redesign of our publication that will hit the streets beginning with our September issue.

The meeting brought together people from all walks of life within our organization–editorial, publishing, sales, marketing, art direction, eMedia, technology and the like.

To us editorial and art folk, some of the best buzz words and phrases were not in our everyday vocabulary — blue ocean strategy, mapping taxonomy and emotional page rate, just to name a few. But it was good to see, for a day, how the other parts of our publication think and strategize.

I liken it to the philosophy that you learn best, have your most creative moments, by stepping outside your comfort zone and mixing it up with a diverse group of thinkers, people who come to an idea or a project from a variety of backgrounds.

It was around the seventh hour of our meeting (or maybe it was during the happy hour celebration following) that I had a vision…

As part of our redesign, we've been working closely with a research group to figure out the best way to tweak the magazine. It was during this moment of reflection yesterday that I remembered something the research company had said about our magazine: "don't screw it up!"

All of the research we've received has pointed to one, consistent theme: our readers like the magazine. They appreciate the job we're doing, the content and the presentation. So, "don't screw it up."

We threw out dozens and dozens of ideas at the meeting, some we'll be incorporating into the redesign, others we'll hold back, for now.

I don't want to give away too many secrets about our plans, but we believe you'll be pleased with the results. And don't expect anything too far from our traditional look and feel. Think of it as a spa makeover as opposed to radical, reconstructive surgery.

Look for more details about our redesign over the coming months. if you have any suggestions about what you'd like to see in the magazine, let us hear from you.

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