News: July 2011 Archives

Fast News for July 27, 2011

SPD MEDIA MIX is our regular list of publication design, digital, and media news and updates. Please send your links and news items to SPD at mail@spd.org and we'll add them to the Mix.

>> Conde iPad Situation a "Snake Pit": The New York Observer says the "knives are out" for Conde Nast's Executive Editor of Digital Magazine Development Scott Dadich over the lackluster performance of the company's iPad applications.

>> Time Is a Digital Genius: Time took top honors in a new ranking of magazines' "digital intelligence" (which is meant to reflect the quality of magazines' websites, digital marketing, social-media efforts and mobile presences) from New York University Stern School of Business. The rest of the top 10 all scored in the "gifted" range, from No. 2 People to No. 10 Cosmopolitan. Seven magazines at the bottom of the list were branded "feeble": Traditional Home, Muscle & Fitness, Elle Decor, Star, Men's Journal, Town & Country, and In Touch Weekly.

>> Uh-O: Oprah Winfrey hasn't had the same zing behind her name since she left her show. Her new network, OWN, has taken a ratings beating. Now it appears that Oprah's decline is impacting O, The Oprah Magazine as well. According to the New York Post, ad pages for its August issue are down 31 percent and pages for its September issue are down 18 percent.

Fast News for July 19, 2011

SPD MEDIA MIX is our regular list of publication design, digital, and media news and updates. Please send your links and news items to SPD at mail@spd.org and we'll add them to the Mix.

>> Books without Borders: After trying and failing to find a buyer, Borders Books & Music will close its remaining 400 stores across the country. At its peak, the chain operated over 1200 stores.

>> Rolling Stone Rolling? According to a report, Wenner Media, publishers of Rolling Stone, Us, and Men's Journal, is on the block and has been talking to a "major publisher" about acquiring the magazines for several months. In addition, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Readers Digest Association is for sale.

>> Return of El Sid: After nearly 4 years of editing the Southern lifestyle magazine, Garden & Gun, out of Charleston, South Carolina, Sid Evans is returning to his publishing roots as the Group Editor of Time Inc.'s Lifestyle Group (Cooking Light, Southern Living, Coastal Living, Sunset and This Old House). He will be based in Birmingham, Alabama.

Fast News for July 14, 2011

SPD MEDIA MIX is our regular list of publication design, digital, and media news and updates. Please send your links and news items to SPD at mail@spd.org and we'll add them to the Mix.

>> Creem Rises: An iconic rock magazine with Detroit roots that ceased regular print publication more than 20 years ago is planning a comeback. The team behind Creem said it's restarting in September and envision a quarterly publication as part of a broader music network that includes mobile apps and streaming music videos -- all with the aim of attracting old and new readers. Editorial offices will be in Los Angeles.

>> What He Really Wants: Hearst is entering new territory in the digital realm with Cosmo For Guys, exclusively on the iPad. Kate White, editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, is also at the helm of the new app, and is confident she has a unique offering with Cosmo For Guys (dubbed CFG). Aimed at the male demographic of 25 and up, White says, "It's advice from women for guys, straight from the source. Men circulate the same myths about women to one another; this is women telling guys what they really want."

Fast News for July 12, 2011

SPD MEDIA MIX is our regular list of publication design, digital, and media news and updates. Please send your links and news items to SPD at mail@spd.org and we'll add them to the Mix.

>> So Long, Newsweek.com: New York magazine's Daily Intel is reporting that starting July 19, newsweek.com will no longer exist. Instead users will be redirected to a channel on the Daily Beast site, which will hold all the archived magazine content from before, and it will be edited and updated once a day to rotate features. Newsweek/Daily Beast editor Tina Brown decided it made the most sense to have all-new non-magazine content appear on the Beast homepage.

>> New Man at Reader's Digest: Bob Newman, a veteran of Fortune, Real Simple, Details, and so many other publications, recently moved from consultant to full-time creative director at Reader's Digest. Mario Garcia talked to Newman about his new gig.

>> 2wice/Merce: Pentagram partner Abbott Miller has created an app for 2wice, the dance-focused magazine for which he has won seemingly every design award possible. The app, entitled "Merce Cunningham Event," is a tribute to the legendary choreographer (1919-2009) that combines live-action video, interviews, and historic dance photography originally developed in collaboration with Cunningham.

>> Alternative Awards: Over a thousand entries from 88 publications across the U.S. and Canada have been narrowed down to this list of finalists, which show the best and most provocative work to appear on the pages and websites of the alternative media in 2010. The winners will be revealed on July 22 at a reception in New Orleans during AAN's 34th Annual Convention. Newmanology pulled together the best cover designs here and here.

Fast News for July 1, 2011

SPD MEDIA MIX is our regular list of publication design, digital, and media news and updates. Please send your links and news items to SPD at mail@spd.org and we'll add them to the Mix.

>> More Mags, Fewer Fails: As the publishing industry continues to recover from the economic recession, 138 magazines launched in the first half of 2011. In the first half of 2010, only 90 new titles came to fruition. The food and regional interest sectors boast the most launches, category-wise, in the first half of 2011, with new titles like Plum Hamptons hitting the market. A total of 74 publications have bitten the dust so far in 2011.

>> Meredith's Latest Meal: Meredith Corp. has acquired the EatingWell Media Group and launched Recipe.com, the company announced this week--less than two weeks after it shut down do-it-yourself magazine ReadyMade and eliminated 75 positions.

>> Harry Potter Releases EW from Spell: Entertainment Weekly is releasing its "Thank You, Harry!" double issue that charts the series dating back to the first film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which debuted in November 2001. This marks EW's 16th Harry Potter cover, and the film is just one short of the lead held by Julia Roberts, because her fame--starting with Pretty Woman in 1990--coincided with the magazine's launch 21 years ago. See all of EW's HP covers here.