Live IT:Leave it gals!

Delhi Press, publisher of 26 diversified magazines in 9 different Indian languages, has launched its ‘kind’ of magazine on information technology- ‘Live IT’. Tag line of the magazine claims- IT magazine for the contemporary women.

Well, I disagree… after going through inch-by-inch of the inaugural issue!

(You must be wondering why I am giving my ‘virdi’ct in so beginning this time. Simply because this magazine belongs to the same genre that also is my core strength, i.e. Technology. Let me tell you friends, I have been IT professor for ten years before I joined media business. And now, it has been nine years since I have been serving for publishing industry in my editorial capacities. A few of you are aware that I have been Editor for various Technology magazines & have worked for other similar projects also. So, I could evaluate this magazine very precisely.)

Content
It seems that ‘Live IT’ is conceptualized by a person or a team who has got at least 15-18 years of experience of technology. Sounds good??... But what if that person is still living in that era of IT only??... Then this is a problem!! The term IT itself sounds old fashioned as it is more or less kept limited up to government sectors only.

Content, especially ‘Features’ are written in the way that those should have been written 15 years ago. They are not greater than a feature published in some Sunday supplement that comes with any news paper now a day. When I browse this magazine, it is giving me a feel as if I am going through any 15-years old magazine again. Just an example, joke in ‘Tech Cartoon’ of this magazine is already published around 18 years ago in so many magazine. And this is the height that the cartoonist hasn’t updated the configuration of the PC that is mentioned in that old joke.

To make the content up-to-date in the magazine, it has sections like ‘Style IT’ & ‘Peek & Pick’ apart from some ‘market’ pages like looking articles in the magazine.

The word ‘Tech Tip’ is certainly misunderstood by the editorial team and that is why this section instead of Tips, is carrying more than a dozen articles of single page each. ‘How to’ section could have been useful but again the selection of article is ancient. Step by Step is so disconnected that text is showing 10 steps and visually it is showing six steps only. Not only this, but within a section, all the articles are presented in different styles. Throughout, there is no consistency in the magazine.

Oh, did I forget to mention that all of these stories are more useful for women than the men? Or these are much focused towards women? No, I didn’t mention because I never felt so while reading any of these article. I don’t understand how come ‘Live IT’ is positioned for contemporary woman only. If any of you my recipients (ladies) find something exclusive which she was missing in all other existing technology magazines, please correct me.

Design
Even worse! Not even a single article is laid out beautifully. As I mentioned inconsistency in content, its worse when it comes to layout & design. Forget about anything else, basic grid is not followed there in the magazine. Some pages are carrying serif fonts and some articles are decorated by using sans serifs! Pictures & text are unnecessarily rotated in lots of articles.

All possible colors are there in single issue that gives a very cheap design to the magazine. It is needless to mention that there are lots of errors which can be taken care if design was simple & consistent. Excess of usage of stock images adds inconsistency in overall presentation… all I can say that it looks like ‘khichdi’.

Cover also is not designed intelligently that is why it is looking very shallow in terms of content. Main cover story is not justifying its tag line. Other stories on the cover are also put just like that. Imaging & concept of the cover image is pathetic. They should have realized that the usage of the symbol ‘@’ is become cliché now! And that too for wrong connotations!!

Printing
As I mentioned a lot of images of products & photographs are taken from press images, stock images or even from web. That is where you can’t control over the quality of images. Lots of pages are carrying low resolution images and a few have images of different styles from others.

Lots of pages have registration problem as well as other problems like poor quality of pre press work, poor ink, crooked photographs etc.

Product
Inaugural issue of 116 pages is priced at Rs.50. If you have experienced any of Delhi Press magazines before, you can guess correctly the quality of paper is used in ‘Live IT’, it is not great. Well, this issue is also carrying one free CD & a supplement on Excel.

As I have given my verdict on ‘Live IT’ in the beginning only, I don’t think this is the right kind of tech magazine of today’s woman. Either they have taken wrong sample data to design the content structure for this magazine or they have designed wrong structure for today’s woman. Anyways, ‘Live IT’ can’t be a great magazine until it gets tweaked as per its positioning.

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GQ:Gentlemen Quotient of India

After Vogue, GQ is the second launch in India by Conde Nast India Pvt. Ltd.. In the month of October, when Vogue India is celebrating its 1st anniversary, Indian edition of GQ is also stepped in Indian market. The acclaimed authority in style & culture, Gentlemen’s Quarterly well, GQ is launched as monthly magazine in India to conquer the heart of urban Indian men (not the boys…).

Conceived in 1958 in US, GQ with the 14 international editions has established a respect for its high standard of writing, stunning photography & fashion features. It now in India..!

Content
Lots of features to read, beautiful photographs to look at, style & fashion to explore... in short, all that you expect from GQ. Because it is the launch issue, it may be a reason that it is really a fat issue of 326 pages and probably its regular issues may have lesser pages per issue (Don’t you remember Vogue India launch issue?).

A decent mix of very few pages of firangi with lots of desi content…! Four major stories of inaugural issue are photograph-intensive stories and so are very prominent in the issue. Though I found cover story little unconvincing to be the lead story for the launch issue but Aditya Mittal’s interview by Karan Johar is really a joy to read. GQ Talk is another section which has interesting material (one shouldn’t miss) by famous columnists like Chastity Fernandes, sanjay manjrekar, Rajiv Masand & Suhel Seth.

GQ’s top bar on the cover shouts-a-loud about luxury, style, sport, cars, gadgets, girls… and it is right there in the issue. In the launch issue, where text on one hand is penned by sharpest columnists including Vir Sanghvi, Iain Ball, Altaf Tyrewala & Che Kurrien (editor- GQ India), on the other hand the issue is well supported by beautiful photographs contributed by cutting-edge photographers like Pascal Chevallier, Raghu Rai, Tom Parker, Prabhuddha Dasgupta & Stefano Galuzzi.

Inaugural issue of GQ India has lots of proofing as well as subbing mistakes which is dangerous for its reputation.

Design
It is not impressive. Design is most critical aspect of any publication which itself should speak editorial philosophy without stating in words. It should be self-explanatory and reader should not interpret in his own way.

Starting right from the cover up to inside pages, design & layout is very inconsistent. Localization of characteristics of a publication is fine but I found it downgrading from its US or UK editions! Why? Do GQ publishers think Indian readers that way only? They should have realized if people are buying US or UK edition here in India at Rs.650-800, they like GQ as it is. Stories can be localized by selecting local celebs but how can you give inconsistent & jumbled layout to the readers even if you are reducing cover price?

The kind of photograph GQ India is carrying on the cover (I am talking about the main cover only, not the full fold-out), GQ’s parental edition doesn’t carry at all... nor the cover story (unless it is a special issue… And by the way, inaugural issue is not the special issue and that must represent how regular issues will look like). The cover shot is not looking editorial shot for GQ but is looking more of shot taken for a commercial for suiting-shirting!

Too many colors & too many styles in a single issue! And that’s why chances of errors become higher. Lots of pages have design errors which could easily taken care if things were simple & less complicated. Every single story is unnecessarily carrying too many color elements and typography as well. More number of elements, more things to manage. If you miss a bit, that causes scope for errors... and that kind of mistakes you can see on lots of pages.

Few of pages are looking horrible because of cluttering of typefaces. Same is also valid for using photographs to make a collage. For instance, one page of the main cover story is made of such a poor collage that it looks like a page from a school kid’s scrap book. Few of pages have grid problems and some of the pages are not locked to the baseline and that is why design has got spoiled everywhere.

Excessively prominent usage of particularly cyan, magenta, yellow & special green colors across the issue is just not understandable.

Printing
The strength of GQ lies in photographs and that is at excellence in the entire issue. And printing is also maintained its standard to do the right justice to that kind of photographs. A few pages shows registration problem which leaves a bitter taste while going through the issue.

Product
As GQ is a photograph intensive magazine, it requires very good quality of paper to support a class of printing. GQ India has used a very good quality of paper to justify its printing expectations which its readers have in mind. No matter if next issues come with lesser number of pages than its launch issue, still it is worth of Rs.100.

As a conclusion, I can say that GQ India is going to be a tough competitor for already established magazines in this space in India like MW, Andpersand, 'm' & The Man etc.

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Cell Passion: Passion for cell-phones, that's it!

Really… having knowledge on a subject is one thing and presenting & packaging it to put a magazine together around that subject is different all together…!

Cellpassion, very odd in size (21X30cms precisely if you can visualize), a bi-monthly magazine is launched this month by Cellpassion Networks Private Ltd. (also the owner of www.cellpassion.com. Editor of Cellpassion, Rajat Agrawal & the editorial contributor, Nimish Dubey have shown all their enthusiasm & obsession about cell phones in entire inaugural issue. They seem much passionate to publish their own names here & there…everywhere in the magazine. Even in Content pages, their names are prominent than the products names which they had reviewed.

Content
Most of this kind of consumer magazines, which review & test consumer products to help readers to make their buying decision, bank upon reviews & tests they carry. Readers also expect more & more number of products in every issue. Readers like to see issue carrying most of the pages full of in-depth, unbiased & latest product reviews. Inaugural issue of Cellpassion is featuring very less number of products and that is the big disappointment.

Secondly, magazine is structured poorly and it is not at all reader friendly. Sections of Cellpassion are very difficult to identify and so is the navigation. ‘Bling’ and ‘Hands on’ sections in the FOB are too identical in terms of content they are carrying & the way they are presented. What could be the better opportunity than that hottest and the most revolutionary phone we have seen ever, i-phone was launched just before the magazine was released. Though inaugural issue has featured i-phone as its ‘cover story’ but again it is done badly. It gives an impression of shallow information and top on that is scattered illogically. ‘Face Off’ section, where two products are compared with each other, could be useful and impressive it would have given more depth and reasoning for their verdict. ‘Test’ section is featuring four cell phones only and that too are presented poorly. Coverage of the event- ‘Communic Asia 2008’ is nothing but looks like post-its of event photographs & tiny write-ups of a few cell phones. It is impossible to understand the rationale behind putting a story on ‘choosing the tariff plan’ in ‘How to’ section! ‘Download apps’ & ‘Play’ sections are ok… at least in this inaugural issue.

The most important & useful section of this kind of magazine is buyers guide section which is also there in the BOB. Since it is the most critical section, ‘Select’ could have presented in better way and could have much useful information.

Language of the magazine somehow appears as it is deliberately written in a casual style which could be more intelligent and still connected with the readers.

Design
Equally bad…! Cover of inaugural issue speaks itself the standard of its design. What else could be done to make it worsen that master head is made a part of cover image! It seems like they have designed this for this issue only. I am wondering what will they in next issue? This is not the end… cover is not carrying any cover story! Only photographs of ten cell phones are given in a matrix and one line using tine font size at the bottom of the cover is saying- Apple i-phone reviewed inside’ and one dotted line across the cover is pointing to the picture of i-phone to help readers to identifying the i-phone! As the cover of inaugural issue, it should have carried the stories to represent the personality & the character of the magazine. Leaving the spine blank can be their policy but it seems ignorance to me.

Design of Cellpassion is as poor as its structure. Art Director & layout person have done their work without even thinking for a single minute. No consistency in using typefaces, color schemes, text alignments, grids, placements, elements…on every page you find them different. Text in few of sections is published in sarif and sometime it is in sans. Unnecessarily folio of the magazine is designed in varying colors. All the section names are designed differently- sometimes it is kept first letter only, sometimes it is made overlapped characters and sometimes it is carrying first letter reversed…! Some pages are made of two columns grid, some are in three and some are in four…! Few articles are carrying drop cap of 5 lines, few 6 lines, 3 lines & 4 lines also.

Illustrations are horrible! Art direction is poor and that is clearly seen in poor digital imaging done in the magazine. Designer has kept doing lot of experiments on fonts, colours & effects etc through out the issue.

Printing
Printing is OK. Though a most of the product shots seems that they are downloaded from internet or are taken from press releases. Pre press work is fine as images are published very well. Few pages have registration problem as well, but overall printing is good.

Product
Size is odd… a little bit awkward. A 100 pages bi-monthly issue with perfect binding is priced at Rs.40 which is OK. Cellpassion has got a very tough competition from already established magazine in that vertical- 'My Mobile', which has more reputed & has got huge mind share. Another competition is 'India Mobile' which not a strong brand as 'My Mobile' is. You must be aware that 'My Mobile' also has its Hindi edition which is also has its own market share.

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RANDOM... it should be titled- RARE (if u r lookin 4 humor ;-)

Publishers of this magazine themselves claim that RANDOM is launched to fill the vacuum created by MAD magazine. Trust me, it is a big disappointment. Tagline of 'India's longest running humor magazine' also shows their overconfidence. RANDOM is recently launched as bi-monthly comic magazine at cover price of Rs.25.

Content
Absolutely Humorless. Either the editor Jatin Varma can challenge the laughter-blaster Siddhu (who can laugh on even a news headline) or I have a good sense of humor who cant find even a single bit to laugh in entire issue. Concept & more importantly, illustrations, cartoons & caricatures are the core strength of this kind of magazines, but RANDOM is failed at every corner. Poor concept, childish cartoons & very unprofessional caricatures gives you a complete disappointment. I think editorial team has no clue nor they have any guideline to bring out the issue, and that is why very conveniently they have named it RANDOM (which exactly suits to their way of generating content). Most of the ideas (concepts!) seems as picked from any of college canteens gossips only. Few of columns & articles are stretched across multiple pages unnecessarily as those could be presented as tit-bits like MAD used to carry it. Overall, content per issue looks very less & shallow in quantity (and also in quality).

Design
Very unprofessional as I said earlier…! Cartoon, Illustrations & caricatures; which are the pillars of these kind of genre, are done immaturely. Presentation of content is also unplanned and put in a random(!) way. Its ok, if designer wants to be creative and wants to go with the name (Random) but still he needs to be consistent very intelligently. Layout of few pages is equally horrible, starting right from the content page up to the last page of magazine.

Printing
Since this magazine has very less scope of photographs to include but it requires good printing quality to show vibrant colors used in illustrations & drawings. And that is the area where RANDOM is fairly OK.

Product
RANDOM looks very thin, ooops… it is very thin as it is a 34 pager magazine only. paper quality is ok but at the cover price of Rs.25 it’s not cheap as they put it on the cover itself- 'Rs.25 Cheap like crazy!'.

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