Sports Illustrated: Sports in India!!

People think that India is the most sports crazy country, but I think in that case the word ‘sports’ needs to be redefined for India. Truth is that nobody bothers for ‘sports’ in India, neither the audience nor the sponsors and the organizers… if it is not Cricket! Not even media! Even the cricket fever remains on our mind till the match is on. And for the (momentary) fans of cricket there are better mediums to get the real-time updates like internet, Mobile and TV. As it is we Indian cricket fans, don’t need any expert’s analysis when the match is over. In fact each one of us is quite capable of criticizing any cricket match, shot-by-shot or even ball-by-ball …don’t we do so? Then why the media should talk about other games not the cricket, if talking about cricket only can hook their readers/ viewers/ listeners (so the advertisers).

Cover of the launch issue of Indian edition of ‘Sports Illustrated’ magazine also approves that for us Indians- sports means cricket, that’s it. American magazine Sports Illustrated is launched this October in India by Time Inc and Dennis Media TransAsia (also publisher of Indian editions of Maxim, Blender, Travel+Leisure, Better Homes & Gardens, Casaviva, Child etc.) as a monthly magazine that is priced at Rs.100. International edition of SI is regarded for its in-depth sports analysis, experts’ columns and of course for its great photography. It seems that desi version of SI is targeting cricket lovers (mainly) and those, who are real fans of international edition of ‘Sports Illustrated’; they have to compromise with this localized edition only. They should not expect the range (ratio) of sports in Indian edition as much as they find in American edition, especially those eye-grabbing covers.

Content
As I have mentioned earlier that cricket is going to rule the overall content, cover story is also about finding out “India’s Greatest Cricketer”. An issue which is never debated (at least seriously) was raised first, and then 30 experts are roped in to settle down the argument. I cannot imagine that any cricket fan (not the fan of cricket stars) has thought of finding ‘Cricketer No.1’ of Indian cricket history…! And SI India has given nothing but just a list of twenty greatest Indian cricketers that is not going to affect any reader’s life or the future of Indian cricket. Anyway, we have a list now!

Front section of the magazine is interesting. Leading off, Scorecard (along with subsections like Life On and Off…, Grill, Go Figure, World of Sport and Mixed Media) are really informative and presented in very interesting way. Back pages of the magazine don’t interest too much. Rest of the part of the magazine i.e. main chunk of the magazine doest have any editorial structure at all. There are various write ups, features, and columns on various sports (like football, tennis, Boxing, F1 etc.) but there is not visible structure of putting articles on these pages. They appear as if they are put there without any order; and that clearly shows the lack of structure in the magazine.

Though, SI international is known for its writing and the photography as well, I don’t find it even up to the mark. Photographs used even in the lead shots of the articles are very poor (accept the FOB pages). Similarly, inconsistency in the thought process of making the cover story of launch is quite apparent. Cover lines (along with the cover photograph) misleads that issue is going to settle the debate of ‘who is the (single) greatest cricketer amongst three- Sunil, Kapil and Sachin.’ Inside pages have different headline that says something else all together that it is a list of top 20 greatest cricketers of all time!

Design
Poor designing & inconsistent layouts make me hard to believe that SI India is also a baby of publishers of Maxim & T+L SA which are remarkably good in design. Substandard visualization and even worsen its execution is apparent right from the cover itself.

Though SI is also reputed for its great photography, but for the concept cover (like launch issue of SI India) it could have been better. Gold metallic color is used as background color to make it stand out that is fine but the cut-outs of three players are so childish that it looks like a page of a scrap book made be a young cricket fan using scissor-cut photographs.

Cover is carrying too many elements those are put there on the cover without any navigation guide. Neither the typography nor the color and weight of texts help reader to follow the cover stories. Typography is done so badly that it makes difficult to read the cover stories at a glance on the newsstand. Other stories are even badly presented using unnecessary typo and inconsistent & illogical leading between them. Overall cover is looking too clutter with no guides for browsing.

Inside pages also have lots of inconsistencies in basic grids, usages of typefaces, designing and using various design elements.

Printing
Poor prepress and substandard imaging can ruin even if you use good photographs in your magazine. In some pages where photographs are up to the mark, poor photo editing has ruined all the quality. And some pages are carrying even poor photograph. For example, the lead shot of Bhiachung Bhutia in the very first article of the launch issue is so grainy and edited so badly that it leaves very bad first impression on reader’s mind. I have to mention that most of the photographs are looking good in the magazine are from Getty Images.

Printing quality of a magazine largely gets affected by the prepress quality and that is why printing also is not very impressive here.

Product
In spite of the fact that India is a sports crazy country (fine, for the cricket only) Sports Illustrated is still going to remain special interest magazine only, not the general interest. For that kind of TG, a monthly product for Rs.100 is perfectly fine. Paper quality and the look & feel of around 126 pages magazine it shows that much of worth.

Cricket seems to remain on top of the content planning for SI India for no doubt, but publishers of this Magazine should keep in the mind the destiny of previously launched other cricket magazines in India and the pitiable condition of currently running other sports magazines. And top of that they need to match their (SI International) readers’ high expectations from its Indian Edition.
--------------------------------------------------------
Content ......................: ●●◐○○
Design & Layout ..........: ●◐○○○
Printing ......................: ●●○○○
Product ......................: ●●◐○○
Value for Money ..........: ●●◐○○
----------------------------------------------------------
‘VIRDI’CT ...................: ●●○○○
----------------------------------------------------------

How to use ‘VIRDI’CT..??
●○○○○ Browse & leave it
●●○○○ Borrow & Read it
●●●○○ Buy it occasionally
●●●●○ Buy regularly
●●●●● Subscribe it now!!!

An Effective Cover - What is it and how it works!

Every issue of Better Photography Magazine has been carrying consistent covers and that eventually have become now an identity for the magazine (brand). This consistency has helped in building the unique personality of Better Photography which distinguishes it amongst its competitors on the newsstands.

Let me explain you the simple yet effective philosophy behind its covers by illustrating one (the latest one, for the matter) in detail.

Hurdles right at the beginning
The ‘making of cover’, ideally, starts with a single theme decided for the month by the editorial team. Otherwise it begins with the main cover story if issue is neither special nor thematic. Accordingly, the entire story lines (text), main picture, other elements are given to the designer to place them on the cover. Sounds simple? Not a single art director or designer would agree to this. For him, it would have been easiest job to put all the text and other elements on a blank paper. But making a cover is just not that. It starts with extremely unavoidable restrictions and that is where challenge comes to the designer’s creativity.

While thinking of putting even the first element on the cover, he needs to keep lots of things in his mind- Mast head, the orientation, size of magazine, color of mast head (if it is fixed), reserved areas of the cover where he cannot even think of putting anything etc…! It is like asking someone to draw a painting on a canvas that has already a few elements drew on it and now he has to draw in the remaining part keeping the previous things intact. That is why, to design a cover of a magazine, the designer must have a great sense of visualization and creativity.

Right things at the right places
Let’s take a closer look on this cover that has a charismatic integration of text and photograph. In order to put the main story about ‘shooting portraits’ on the cover for this issue and what else could be better supporting cover photograph. This cover has got an eye-catching photograph of a gorgeous lady (a cine star-Amrita Rao – very unlikely to Better Photography that generally doesn’t carry any celebrity on the cover). Cover model is looking someone like whom it’s reader (Elderly young, male, literate, urban still cultured) can relate with.

First of all, this picture is a brilliant portrait shot that has dramatic lights falling on her body. Her expressions, slightly tilted face and her body language are just enough to take you there inside the photograph. Hands and fingers in the photograph are creating beautiful pattern and that is making this photograph an outstanding portrait. Magic of lights & shadows along with the dark back ground is adding a mysterious touch to this picture. Any portrait photographer would like to shoot the same way. And that is why it is integrated very well with the main cover story – ‘Learn to capture soulful PORTRAITS’ and also with second and third lead stories – ‘Can side profiles be better than frontal portraits?’ and ‘Creative flash techniques for great people pictures’.

Further, this picture is facing towards left side and that is why it is placed on the right side of the cover. That way it leaves entire left hand side of the cover empty to accommodate all the text and other elements without taking anything over the main picture. The head of the picture is slightly going over the Mast-head that is creating a sense of layers (virtual depth) on the cover. Sepia color of photograph is adding a typical portraiture mood in overall picture. This tone is just perfect for the white color that is standard for the mast-head and the cover stories of regular covers of Better Photography. As the second color for rest of text is used is bronze to match it with sepia tone of photograph. Combination of white & bronze is just adding the same flavor of sepia photographs to the overall design. Proper alignment of all the stories is giving a sense of disciplined and scientific approach of designing the cover (and same can be expected in the inside pages as well).

The Magazine cares for ‘YOU’…
Now, read the cover lines carefully. ‘Learn to capture soulful PORTRAITS’, ‘How to bring out the character of a person without even showing the face’, ‘Can side profiles be better than frontal portraits?’, ‘Creative flash techniques for great people pictures’, ‘cheap flash diffusers you can make’ and lots of ‘Exclusive Reviews’.

All the stories are written (phrased) to communicate an assurance to its reader (a prospective newsstand buyer) that ‘We understand you… we know exactly what is your requirement… we are there to help you in your growth…’. In other words, cover is promising to its reader that ‘Better Photography cares for you and is committed to help you at each & every step of your growth’. Selection of articles advocates that Better Photography understand its reader up to the core.

Making it a selling cover
It is fine to put lots of benefits for the readers on the cover to show it as a promising issue. But process of making a great cover doesn’t end here, now it is also important to make it saleable on newsstand. A beautiful portrait is good enough to catch the eye-ball on newsstand. And top of that, sepia color stands out amongst the crowd of other very colorful covers lying on the newsstand. To hook a (prospective) buyer into the cover, the cover story has a very catchy word – ‘PORTRAIT’. This a great hook for almost every photographer who is interested in this subject. And if it works, reader will take a closer look on the cover story and will come to know other benefits. Then he may pick up the copy in his hands on the newsstand and may read other stories and benefits told there for him. Second & third leading stories are also promising and telling that he is going to get benefit out of these articles.

These stories are put in different colors & sizes to bring attention of buyer while maintaining the overall design good looking. This variation is also communicating the weight of the article in the issue. Yes, it can be debatable that too much text can make a cover too crowded, but in this issue even that aspect is taken care very intelligently.

To communicate the total value of this issue to the reader, total ‘Sixteen’ stories are put on the cover. Precisely, one hundred and twenty five words are placed in very balanced way so that they should not create clutter on the cover (that too without including mast-head, tag line, date, price, website address, positioning statement & the publication information …phew!). This is an excellent example of putting really a big number of information on the cover and still keeping the cover esthetically good.

Anything Special…?
Suddenly, his eyes get distracted by a peel-out sticker that is- 1) Telling the reader that the issue is carrying World’s Exclusive Review about one of the most talked about camera, and 2) It is pampering his ego by giving him an opportunity of being ‘first’ to known.

After this his eyes can go on the top band or at the bottom strip where other beneficial stories are shown in finer fonts. Top band is made of using the same color as the peel-out sticker is made of. That shows the synchronized color scheme of choosing colors for various elements are used on the cover. On the top-right hand side corner of the cover, it is having a sachet in blue color where the entries for the ‘Photographer of the year 2009’ contest are invited and this is a good catch for any aspiring photographer.

Smart investment
This cover, in the totality is offering a great value to any enthusiast and an aspiring photographer, who has a passion to know more and more about the subject and to establish himself in the league of great lens men. And the whole cover is promising to take him in the right direction. Hence, this cover has all the elements in the right way those are necessary to make a great and effective cover… a cover that is capable of market itself & can carry the burden of selling the magazine on its own. A cover that can convince a person on newsstand that buying this issue is going to be a smart investment for him, it is really an effective cover.

WHICH? is the RIGHT CHOICE!

Have you ever heard about a magazine which doesn't accept any advertisement because they want to build the credibility in reader's mind that they are unbiased? They don't even ask manufacturers/dealers to send their products for the review instead they buy all the products and then they test on their well researched benchmarks!

This is RIGHT CHOICE magazine, launched 50 years ago in UK by a consumer organization- WHICH? and now it is launched last month in India with the name- WHICH? RIGHT CHOICE.

RIGHT CHOICE is essentially a consumer buying guide which is to help consumer to make a smart decision of buying any product or service available in the market. The product & service range this magazine covers is not limited up to one special interest or genre but it covers each and every possible aspect our lives.

Content
This magazine is just perfect buying guide which you can trust for its impartial advice on any product. Yes, comparisons & reviews of products are done by several magazines also but the RIGHT CHOICE really impresses by its wide range of selecting the products. It covers right from electronics gadgets, life style products, auto, home appliances, lipsticks, washing powders, wines, batteries… up to comparing phone service providers, holiday packages, fast foods, loans, investment plans, banks, cinema, properties and what not!

And its not only reviewing and rating a product but other important information also is given as an extra tip in the articles, like- how to get most of…, how to save… Cleaning…maintaining…using… etc!

A few of interesting numbers which shows their efforts behind their ratings & make their researches an 'Icon of Trust'-

• 1033- The number of upper-income professionals they interviewed about their Cinema preferences.

• 600- The total number of days they spent applying lipstick to test how long it lasted.

• 20,000- Number of times they switched light bulb on and off.

• 30,00,000- Number of characters they struck on type writers.

Since, this 80 pages magazine covers a variety of products, it is failed to communicate the structure of magazine to the reader, and in fact the magazine doesn't have any editorial structure. Reader gets the information across the magazine, page by page, but he can not browse this magazine section viz. as it has no prominent structure in entire magazine.

Design
RIGHT CHOICE has got a class! It seems very disciplined & planned magazine which appears very clearly though its design & layout. The color scheme chosen, the fonts and the design elements selected are very disciplined and consistent throughout the magazine.

That consistency in design, in fact adds to the credibility of research results published in the magazine by showing clarity of thought of people behind the magazine.

Because of nature of subject, this magazine has lots of infographs, illustrations and tables and all are neat & looking good. Even small & tiny elements those are created to add value in the content, are looking good.

There are places where design & layouts have some errors which are though ignorable but they seem much bigger when it is very close to the perfection… then it pinches more! At some places, some basic things are neglected which can be taken care. Anyway, things can be improved all the time.

Printing
Printing as excellent as the content & design is! Cover of volume 1 issue 1 has got nice photograph and colors are printed very well. Inside pages are also printed very sharp & clear. Very rare pages have registration problem that may be in initial copies only.

Because of good printing and good prepress job, products carried out in the magazine, are appearing in true color which is great achievement for this kind of magazine. Only a few photographs taken/used in some articles are poor.

Product
RIGHT CHOICE is a perfect bound magazine in regular size. Paper used for inside pages as well as for the covers is just perfect for this magazine.

As of now, this magazine is not available on the news stands and first three issues are available though their controlled distribution only. Initial issues are not even disclosing the cover price.

After a long time in such a wonderful product is available for Indian magazine reader that is a complete package in terms of content-design-product, everything! WHICH? RIGHT CHOICE is already known as a trusted magazine in UK with a subscriber base of 10 lakh consumers and now it is ready to impress Indian consumer by its unbiased advice on buying goods & services.

--------------------------------------------------------
Content ......................: ●●●●○
Design & Layout .........: ●●●●○
Printing ........................: ●●●●◐
Product ........................: ●●●●◐
Value for Money ..........: NA (Until price is decided.)
----------------------------------------------------------
‘VIRDI’CT ...................: ●●●●○

----------------------------------------------------------

How to use ‘VIRDI’CT..??
●○○○○ Browse & leave it
●●○○○ Borrow & Read it
●●●○○ Buy it occasionally
●●●●○ Buy regularly
●●●●● Subscribe it now!!!

HINDUSTAN TIMES... AB AUR BHI BEHTAR!

Hi Friends,

Now, this is what I call a Redesign!

Last week in Indian publishing world, a true makeover is happened to Hindustan Times. It can be referred as a great example of a sensible & well executed exercise of face lifting of a print product. Not in terms of design & look-n-feel only but in terms of over all content structure & positioning also. It is not limited up to typography or colors but it has changed the entire personality of the publication.

I must say that the whole exercise is turned out quite successful and it is well noticed in the market. The only reason I could see behind this kind of result is that HT has followed the correct approach of redesigning that any redesigning exercise must start from Editorial for the content first and then it should come to the Design for the support.

In the past recent months or years, we have seen many so called redesigned versions of even by big Indian publications but no one could do much beyond touch-ups. Generally publications while redesigning, change layout & typography only or may be their mast-head but the content structure, writing style, jargon, copy style remain same… and then they wonder why even after revamping their product is not picking up!

Publication houses spend lots of money & time on this redesigning exercise but most of the time, the results are not as great as they expect. Why?

Well, I feel just because of these basic mistakes-
- Jumping into the process of redesigning without the clear goals
- Not estimating the worthiness of redesigning
- Overlooking the content aspect
- Incorrect approach of redesigning
- Not measuring the longevity of redesign
- Controlled by inexperienced team
- Doing this exercise by in house team (in most cases)
- Limiting up to product only (360 degree communication inconsistency)
- Mismatch in execution or lack of training
- Improper marketing or communication etc.

And any of above said mistake can throw your entire efforts into drain.

HT, in its new avatar, looking even better, more connected & structured. I hope that the product will definitely see its positive results very soon.

G&G- Gadgets & Gizmos for the mass!

I remember just a decade ago when we had a very few magazines on technology & gear and those used to categorized specifically as ‘niche’ magazines. Now scenario is completely changed and gadgets & gizmos are reached from a geek’s hands to a layman’s pocket! This wider reach of technology has forced the publishers to tweak their existing ‘technology’ magazines towards mass or they are launching new magazines in this space.

The India Today Group has launched recently a monthly magazine – G&G (Gadgets & Gizmos) for mass… or ‘focused’ larger audience in the same space after testing the water by putting special editions with the same title in the past. Now, launch of this title as a regular monthly magazines clearly shows that India Today Group has gauged the scope of this product.

Content
G&G is clearly a gadget magazine which talks about tech products ranging from mobiles to music systems, cameras, computers, laptops, projectors, TVs and fans-refrigerators-watches also. In fact, the broad range of products deviates G&G for being ‘focused’ on its subject. Number of reviews, promotions, press releases give it a look of little bigger product catalogue of any electronic retail outlet at first glance.

G&G has a minimal of information on gadgets’ usage & applications, everything is product information only (as oppose to its positioning of telling ins and outs of gadgets & getting the most out of gadgets).

Editorially G&G is structured poorly and that thoughtless skeleton is visible throughout the magazine.

Design
Layout & Design alone as it is can’t do much if content is not structured properly, and in G&G it is even worse. Same ‘thought’(lessness) is visible in the design of this magazine. Typefaces & basic design elements chosen are aged which are looking out of the place along with the latest gadgets. Design elements are created unnecessarily that could be removed to make it simple & neat layout.

Inconsistency is the only thread which starts right from the cover itself and goes ‘consistently’ up to the last page of the magazine.

In the entire magazine, the ‘human’ connect is missing though G&G is made to attract every single consumer. G&G seems like a product made by using online image banks only.

Printing
Since G&G is carrying most of the product shots (probably sourced by the companies) only, pictures are looking good but absolutely lifeless. Printing is OK on most of pages but looking very bad in some pictures because of lower LPI.

Product
G&G is priced at Rs.50 as a monthly magazine of approximately 120 pages of information on gadgets. If it is compared with its other ‘near’ competitors, it’s a good product in tech space that gives you a wide range of consumer buying information at one stop. Low price can be a great advantage for ‘no-frill’ G&G to compete with others magazines in the same segment.

Looking at the quantity of information G&G is a good value for money if you can compromise on the presentation of content.

----------------------------------------------------------
Content .....................: ●●◐○○
Design & Layout ........: ●●○○○
Printing ......................: ●●●◐○
Product ......................: ●●●●○
Value for Money .........: ●●●○○
----------------------------------------------------------
‘VIRDI’CT ....................: ●●◐○○
----------------------------------------------------------

How to use ‘VIRDI’CT..??
●○○○○ Browse & leave it
●●○○○ Borrow & Read it
●●●○○ Buy it occasionally
●●●●○ Buy regularly
●●●●● Subscribe it now!!!

Livingetc: It’s for style but it’s not stylish!

Britain’s best selling homes magazine, Livingetc is launched last month in India. This Indian edition is launched by Images group (also publishers of ‘m’, ‘BoF’, ‘FnL’, FnL Central, Images Retail-Hindi & English, Progressive Grocer, Salon etc.) via a licensing agreement with IPC media.

Though Indian market has already a couple of magazines in this space, Livingetc has its own vertical of ‘fashionable & stylish homes’. Editor-in-Chief Amitabh Taneja believes that India is now ready to have a magazine with this positioning. Indian edition of livingetc is edited by Executive Editor, Mridula Sharma who had an association with ‘Design Today’, ‘Better Homes & Gardens’ and ‘Inside Outside’ magazines.

Content
As it is claimed to be fashionable & stylish, Livingetc is divided into major sections- shopping, inspirational homes & ideas for decorations. Apart from these food & travel articles also there in the magazine to make it complete relaxed living magazine.

Launch issue of Indian Livingetc is carrying a balanced mix of UK & local content. Though for the stylish factor it hardly matters, but poor photography of local stories increases the gap between the both. To showcase the fashionable & stylish homes, it becomes essential to have more number of photographs. And that’s where writers get confused to write text & structure of an article gets messed up. Same happened in most of the articles in Livingetc, despite of putting useful information; it is become difficult to navigate the article.

Design
Because of poor structure of article, it becomes problematic to create a scribble for that article. In Livingetc, designers & layout artists must have juggled a lot to put a complete article- words, illustrations & photographs all together on pages. That is why it has lot of inconsistencies & silly mistakes in design. There are lots of fonts, styles and effects are used in layouts which are only creating clutter on the pages instead of leading readers. And because of too many things it leaves scope of errors (that too on cover itself).

Colors used on the cover for launch issue are good but the photograph is not reflecting the ‘positioning’ of Livingetc. Even the layout for cover stories is not impressive. It has lot of variations in styles, effects, typo, sizes which shows lack of discipline in design. Yes, Master Head is looking good on the cover.

Printing
Like other magazines from Images Group, Livingetc also has excellent printing. Its just flawless, from cover to cover everything is printed perfect. Color reproduction is brilliant. Prepress work is also good, all the photographs are printed well (despite the fact that few of photographs themselves are poor).

Product
If I look at paper quality of Livingetc, it is OK but this product is not justifying its positioning. Size of magazine might have international constraint but it could be better product by taking little bit better paper. Livingetc is perfect bound magazine of around 150 pages and it is priced at Rs.100.

If photography, design & presentation of Livingetc can be improved, then its content is just fine to create its own niche in Indian market space. The product (the magazine) itself should be as stylish as its readers profile is who prefer to buy premium products for their homes.

----------------------------------------------------------
Content .....................: ●●●◐○
Design & Layout ........: ●●◐○○
Printing ......................: ●●●●○
Product ......................: ●●●○○
Value for Money .........: ●●●○○
----------------------------------------------------------
‘VIRDI’CT ....................: ●●●○○
----------------------------------------------------------

How to use ‘VIRDI’CT..??
●○○○○ Browse & leave it
●●○○○ Borrow & Read it
●●●○○ Buy it occasionally
●●●●○ Buy regularly
●●●●● Subscribe it now!!!

BINDIYA: Chamkegi Ya Nahin?

After the release of ‘SHUKRAWAR’ in the last year, Perls News Network also launched ‘MONEY MANTRA’ in the beginning of this year. And maintaining the same pace the PNN group has now launched another monthly magazine for women- ‘BINDIYA’. All the three magazines are in Hindi and Editor of BINDIYA, Shrikant Tripathi is confident that like their previous two magazines, BINDIYA will also be great success.

Being a women interest magazine, BINDIYA has its well established competitions like MERI SAHELI, JAGRAN SAKHI, GRIH SHOBHA, GRIH LAKSHAMI, VANITA, MANORAMA, GOOD HOMEMAKER and recently launched HINDI FEMINA etc. Tripathi doesn’t consider even a single women Hindi magazine at the standard where he put his BINDIYA. But, that is not true only for women Hindi magazines, in fact it is true for almost all the Hindi magazines. Gone are those days when we used to refer DHARMYUG, SAPTAHIK HINDUSTAN, SARVOTTAM and all for good Hindi literature.

Content
Whatever is claimed about making it ‘different’ from others, it is more or less the same. Selection and compilation of articles seems that BINDIYA is trying to attract every segment and every aspect of an Indian woman. From a teenager to a mature woman, from a working lady to an entrepreneur and from a college going lady to a house wife, everybody is targeted to hook into this.

In order to satisfy such a broad set of audience, most of the time content gets diversified. If it not structured properly and not presented in a strict discipline, it becomes a mess. BINDIYA is carrying a good number of articles and that’s why it is divided into several departments. But entire magazine doesn’t seem structured.

Language & usages of words has lots of inconsistency across the magazine. With this kind of negligence, how can a magazine become a great literary magazine? And while working with Hindi publishing software, one should take care of few technical tricks which are totally ignored in BINDIYA and that is why it has lots of typo errors (though those can be corrected if subbing was perfect).

Design
Design is fine if it is not great. It has maintained consistency at some places but some place it has lost, may be in order to try something ‘different’. But it could be better if it was little disciplined and a few basics of designing were taken care. Stock images are used excessively and that disconnects a reader from the magazine.

Cover image is attractive but doesn’t go with the positioning of the magazine. Cover stories are arranged & placed badly and eventually the cover is turned a bad cover. Colors & design elements used in the magazine are outdated & give a substandard look to the magazine.

Printing
Printing quality of BINDIYA is good. Only a few images are of low resolution or may be those are picked up from the web and that’s why they are printed bad. Pre-press could correct the skin tones at least to make magazine more beautiful.

Product
Paper used for the magazine is good. Launch issue of BINDIYA is carrying center pinned 134 pages of regular A4 size and it is priced at Rs20. If you look at the quantity of reading material, it is really worth it. Quality of articles is also good and you can appreciate it if you can ignore the claims of being ‘different from other women magazine’ that is made in the editorial itself.

As conclusion, BINDIYA is just another women Hindi magazine that has to improve a lot to take a lead from others but for sure it can survive as it is without struggle even in the crowd of other competing magazines.

----------------------------------------------------------

Content .....................: ●●●◐○

Design & Layout ........: ●●●◐○

Printing ......................: ●●●○○

Product ......................: ●●●◐○

Value for Money .........: ●●●●○

----------------------------------------------------------

‘VIRDI’CT ....................: ●●●◐○

----------------------------------------------------------

How to use ‘VIRDI’CT..??

●○○○○ Browse & leave it

●●○○○ Borrow & Read it

●●●○○ Buy it occasionally

●●●●○ Buy regularly

●●●●● Subscribe it now!!!

YUVA: Overconfident!

YUVA is a fortnightly magazine that is launched last week by e-sense entertainment pvt Ltd. As claimed in publisher’s note, YUVA is going to target entire youth of between 18-30years of age and will become a movement (!?) to help them to bring a change in the country!!! But after seeing the execution, in terms of first issue of YUVA, I would call it overconfidence!

Content
Publishers of YUVA might have thought that youth can be related to everything- politics, environment, economy, business, trends, career, lifestyle, relationships, health and lots of day to day issues of lives- so let’s start a unique magazine to hook them together and change the nation. In my understanding, YUVA is not doing anything which is never done earlier. Probably they should know that this genre is called ‘general interest’ and so many other magazines are already there in the same space. And if it is about targeting youth, again there are a lot in that space also like JAM, IGT, JLT and earlier version of YUVA… and we all know their credibility!

When you claim that it is covering everything, it precisely means that it has no focus. While trying to cater all the needs of youth, YUVA has become ‘khichadi’ only. It has no defined edit structure, no focus, no philosophy come through its articles… Topics are picked up on random rather on availability basis. Each article is written & structured in its own style, there is no consistency and not a single thought is coming out while going through article by article.

Cover of the launch issue of YUVA is conceptualized as if it is one of the current affair magazines. It has election (Gandhi vs Gandhi) as the main story and IPL in one corner… nothing else there that can show its ‘wide’ range of content coverage!

You keep on reading YUVA from start to end and you will not able to know the direction where it wants to lead the youth and the nation ultimately!

Design
Same ‘philosophy’ is reflected in its design also… philosophy of doing everything in one magazine! I think that designers were left free to implement their own style to design every single page separately, and that is why entire launch issue of YUVA has become like a catalog of so many design templates. Each page has so many and so different design elements that each page is looking different from each other. Not a single page seems that it belongs to the one single magazine only.

What worse could be done that it has no consistent grid or body copy style in the magazine and that you can not do in the name of ‘contemporary youth’ or ‘creativity’. On the cover itself, there are so many unnecessary effects & design elements are put and those are adding no value to the design.

Illustrations used inside the pages are very unprofessional that also adds one more negative in its design.

Printing
That is one thing which is reasonably good. At least press has done its job effectively, whatever is given to print, is printed well. Few images are of low resolution and in return they are printed pixellated. Lots of photographs are printed in unrealistic & unnatural colors and that shows the poor prepress work as well. It would have printed even better if prepress has done their job perfectly.

Product
Paper used for the magazine is good. YUVA is a center pinned magazine of 100-110 pages of regular A4 size and it is priced at Rs30. If you can appreciate a collection of various colored magazines of your local newspaper, its good deal.

YUVA seems nothing more than an unprofessional compilation of color supplements which has features, gadgets, roadside nonsense surveys, jokes, tarot and whatever unimportant you can think.

----------------------------------------------------------
Content .....................: ●◐○○○
Design & Layout ........: ●○○○○
Printing ......................: ●●●○○
Product ......................: ●●○○○
Value for Money .........: ●○○○○
----------------------------------------------------------
‘VIRDI’CT ....................: ●○○○○
----------------------------------------------------------

How to use ‘VIRDI’CT..??
●○○○○ Browse & leave it
●●○○○ Borrow & Read it
●●●○○ Buy it occasionally
●●●●○ Buy regularly
●●●●● Subscribe it now!!!

Brand Licensing enters India!

I have started feeling that this is the only fate left for B2B magazines in India. All the B2B magazines, well, most of them have a few commonalities among them. One- most of them are fairly good in terms of respective domain information and two- all are just thoughtlessly structured and designed very reluctantly. A great magazine is not made on the basis of information only but how that information is structured, how it is designed, how it is presented, how it packaged… that makes a magazine really a great magazine!

Sure, most of them are doing well, their information is appreciated and that is why they are managing to survive. They survive because there is definite need for that kind of information. They can do even better, they can be much appreciated and perhaps they can have much larger readership if they are structured sincerely, presented attentively. Unfortunately those are the areas where these magazines are neglected and they face the situation in which they are currently. And if the outlook of publishers & editors towards these magazines is going to remain same, these magazines deserve to be like this only.

‘Brand Licensing’ is latest entrant in the latter category of B2B magazines which I discussed in the beginning. ‘Brand Licensing’ as its editor in chief- Lajwant Singh claims in his first edit note, is first-of-its-kind of magazine in India that will help & educate entrepreneurs and companies to setup or expand their business via licensing. ‘Brand Licensing’ is launched by franchising & retailing group- Franchise India Holdings Ltd. (www.franchiseindia.com) who is also publisher of two more B2B magazines- ‘The Franchising World’ and ‘Retailer’.

Content
Again a fantastic & very niche vertical to be in but executed badly. Being a publication from Franchise India, content of BL is obviously rich and informative but it is scattered and disorganized badly across the magazine.

In most of the B2B magazines there is one very fine line which divides it from B2C. It is very easy for editors/writers of these magazines that they can cross it and land up into B2C domain if not controlled very-very cautiously. Same is happened with BL, though information provided for the business people are good but at some places it starts getting into consumer’s space. Solid & definite editorial structure is missing though out the magazine, articles are scattered illogically in the magazine and that is why magazine in totality looks very complicated to navigate.

Because of lack of planning, there are lots of errors left in the magazine that also puts the credibility of content on stake.

Design
It is same as the content structure…very amateur and unprofessional. Only thing is clearly visible about the design is that designers have no clarity what needs to do present in what way. Selection of typefaces, color palates, illustrations everything is used just like that…there is no reasoning behind selecting any single element in the magazine.

Printing
It is mediocre…if not great or even bad! Lots of photographs are taken from web and that is why the output is poor. Because of lesser LPI, even good photographs are printed badly.

Product
‘Brand Licensing’ is launched as quarterly magazine and priced at Rs75. It is an eighty page perfect bound magazine which gives a decent look to this magazine.

Finally, information given in BL is fairly impressive and definitely helpful for its target readers but it can be improved drastically by putting same information in better way.

----------------------------------------------------------
Content .....................: ●●◐○○
Design & Layout ........: ●◐○○○
Printing ......................: ●●◐○○
Product ......................: ●●●○○
Value for Money .........: ●●●○○
----------------------------------------------------------
‘VIRDI’CT ....................: ●●○○○
----------------------------------------------------------

How to use ‘VIRDI’CT..??
●○○○○ Browse & leave it
●●○○○ Borrow & Read it
●●●○○ Buy it occasionally
●●●●○ Buy regularly
●●●●● Subscribe it now!!!

OPEN for you…

…but are you open for this?

That is the question which is there all around on hoardings, newspapers everywhere. A weekly magazine OPEN, as the first product in the pipe line of their print venture by Saregama Pvt Ltd. is launched last week across the nation. It is going to be general interest magazine by touching every serious & trivial aspect of your life. The question of your openness arises after looking at its USP- Its different! And irony is that people resist for change and they are not open for it.

Though (ignoring the content proportion for once) ‘India Today’, ‘Outlook’, ‘The Week’ are also in the same genre but as Editor Sandipan Deb clears its unique positioning in his edit note for the launch issue that OPEN will not be doing something new but for sure they will do the same- differently! Well, even for the same positioning ‘Tehelka’ & ‘The Caravan’ also tried and they could not do major.

Content
Being a very wide scope of coverage it becomes challenging for such magazines to define their personality, so is with OPEN. At a glance, launch issue is carrying variety of reading material, well enough in quantity for a week. Edit structure is broadly divided into three sections only- Small World (FOB- what is happening around), Features (main section- Lifestyle, current affairs, politics, culture, technology… everything!) and the Mindspace (BOB- Books, Cinema, Arts & Leisure).

Main section has lack of clarity, which is quite visible in its weak structure. This section, if it not defined clearly, has lot of scope to cover on one hand, on other hand it has a big threat of getting to scattered that magazine may lose its focus (even it has a broad focus).

Selection of stories & writing itself is commendable that makes OPEN an interesting reading literature. Subbing & proofing has left some errors on a few of pages.

Design
Cover of inaugural issue of OPEN is not as great designed cover as it should be to reflect the personality of the magazine, the philosophy of the OPEN. For the time, let’s assume that is because of the cover story but that also is not impressive.

These kinds of magazines have lots of scope of design, illustrations, graphics and imaging. On few pages, various design elements are smartly used which adds elegance to a page and on the contrary a few pages have unnecessary usages of styles, typo and other elements. It seems that entire magazine is designed in parts because each article appears great but if you go page-by-page, you can see lots of inconsistency that leaves a bad impression on reader.

Overall, it is quite neatly designed magazine.

Printing
Pictures in the magazine are come out very well because of good prepress work and the printing quality. Colors of various boxes, various design elements and photographs are come well. Only on some pages it has registration problems.

Product
Being a weekly magazine of 74 pages, it is good quantity of reading material that is priced at Rs30. Odd size & perfect binding of OPEN makes it ‘zara hatke’ magazine in its genre. That is what exactly goes well with the positioning of this magazine.

In the first issue, selection of articles, the writing and the variety of topics impressed me a lot. If it is defined clearly and is tweaked a little bit at some points, it can create its own space in the crowd of so called general interest magazines. But you have to be open for this difference first!

----------------------------------------------------------
Content .....................: ●●●◐○
Design & Layout ........: ●●●○○
Printing ......................: ●●●◐○
Product ......................: ●●●○○
Value for Money .........: ●●●●◐
----------------------------------------------------------
‘VIRDI’CT ....................: ●●●◐○
----------------------------------------------------------

How to use ‘VIRDI’CT..??
●○○○○ Browse & leave it
●●○○○ Borrow & Read it
●●●○○ Buy it occasionally
●●●●○ Buy regularly
●●●●● Subscribe it now!!!

Careers 360: Right Information in a Wrong way!

Just about twenty years back, engineering or medical used to be the guarantee for the secure & bright future, but today scenario is changed. Youth of today has lots of options and so is confusion. Hence, there was a strong need for such a guide which can mentor any aspiring graduate or mid-career professional. And, a magazine from Pathfinder Publishing Pvt Ltd is here to guide all the aspiring people for taking the right and informed career path to pursue their dreams- Careers360.

Content
Concept & positioning of this monthly magazine is perfectly fine. Entire magazine of 112 pages are carrying a good number of articles to read. It is quite visible that the information & facts given in the articles are enormous. Magazine covers a vast range from schools reviews, career reviews, courses reviews, interviews with career experts & successful role models, competition guides etc.

Launch issue of Careers360 is carrying a survey on ‘10 best courses and careers’ as the cover story which is a fairly done study and it has lots of needed information in it. Apart from this cover story other articles are also well written and supporting the positioning of the magazine.

But each article looks good when it is seen individually. Just a collection of a few good articles doesn’t make a good magazine. This magazine has no content structure and that is why it doesn’t leave a good impression as a magazine after reading it.

Design
It is not as good as content is. In fact Poor and flawed design overshadows the quality of content. Basics of page layouts like grids, columns, styles are not followed properly. Layout & design has lots of inconsistencies which makes the entire magazine a substandard product.

Printing
Prepress work is mediocre and could be improved further to take the quality of the magazine to the new heights. Printing is good, except of few places.

Product
Since the nature of the magazine is informative & educative, so the quality of paper & magazine binding is kept average. Monthly Careers360 is priced at Rs.40 which looking at the articles & its information is perfectly fine.

For an aspiring student, I see a lot of value in the magazine and if its structure & design improves, this can create a huge reader base in very short duration.


----------------------------------------------------------
Content .....................: ●●●○○
Design & Layout ........: ●◐○○○
Printing ......................: ●●●◐○
Product ......................: ●●○○○
Value for Money .........: ●●●○○
----------------------------------------------------------
‘VIRDI’CT ....................: ●●◐○○
----------------------------------------------------------

How to use ‘VIRDI’CT..??
●○○○○ Browse & leave it
●●○○○ Borrow & Read it
●●●○○ Buy it occasionally
●●●●○ Buy regularly
●●●●● Subscribe it now!!!

Lifestyle Living: A Variety Magazine

It seems very simple to publishers to produce a magazine if they have a mix variety of content… magazine for which genre...? 'Lifestyle' of course! At least a dozen of magazines got launched in India last year which are positioned as 'lifestyle' magazine by their publishers. And now one more magazine is launched recently in the same space with the title- Lifestyle Living by Gill India Communications Pvt. Ltd. (you must have read about GICPL in my last post on What Women Want).

Content
May be the intention of publishers of Lifestyle Living was to touch every aspect of life so that it can appeal to everyone, but as the result it is become a magazine which has no editorial direction. The content is absolutely scattered in terms of topicality. Perhaps this product is influenced by GICPL's own in-flight magazine for Spice Jet Airlines- Spiceroute, which has readers who no choice but to read whatever is given to them in the flight.

Less than 90 pages of content of this issue, is divided in six vague sections. Each section is carrying a number of articles on gadgets, cars, architecture, perfumes, travel, places, hotels, fashion, cars, art, entertainment, dance, cigar, formula one, food, living, tattoo, health etc.! Frankly, it is not a smooth reading magazine if you are reading it in one sitting. Each article is different in nature. And top of that each one is written in different style as well. May be because all articles are contributed by outsiders, that is why they don't have any writer in their edit team but they have a long list of editors.

They should understand the difference between a consumer magazine and an in-flight magazine to make it much enjoyable magazine. I have a strong doubt if this kind of poorly structured content can influence a large number of readers to buy it on news stand.

Design
Not impressive at all. Size of Lifestyle Living is larger than a regular magazine, still because of poor design & flawed layout, large size is also failed to make it a classy magazine. Consistency is just ignored every place; be it section names or headings or introductions of boxes… everywhere designers have broken even the basic rules.

Starting right from the master head of the magazine- Lifestyle Living, it is printed pixelleted. What two long yellow thick lines are doing on the cover, or what the cover stories want to say or why the cover stories are also in same yellow color… I can’t understand.

Inner pages are also designed badly. If the height and the width of columns of text is varying from page to page, you can understand designer's lack of knowledge for the layout in a magazine. If same type faces are used for body text & boxes and other elements, God only can save the layout. Only the advertisement pages are looking good in entire issue.

Friends, you must be wondering why I am repeating my comments as I had written is my last post about 'what women want' from the same publication. Trust me, I am not getting biased. Edit team & the design team is common for both the magazines, so how can it be different or better from each other.

Printing
Prepress work could have improved lots of pictures those are poorly printed in this issue. Almost every picture is pixelleted on its edges and many of them have yellow or cyan cast in printing. Otherwise printing is OK.

Product
Paper which is used for inside pages of the magazine and for the covers, are excellent. Physical size of magazine is also impressive but the entire product doesn’t justify its cover price. Inaugural issue of Lifestyle Living is 100 pages thick and is priced at Rs.100. Looking at other lifestyle magazines available in the Indian market (and when some of international brands also have launched in India) price doesn’t seem too high for this genre but looking at the density and the quality of content Lifestyle Living is offering, it too much.

All I can say as the conclusion that I can’t find any reason to buy Lifestyle Living instead of buying any of its competitors at the same price.

----------------------------------------------------------
Content .......................: ●●○○○
Design & Layout ..........: ●◐○○○
Printing ........................: ●●◐○○
Product ........................: ●◐○○○
Value for Money ...........: ●○○○○
----------------------------------------------------------
‘VIRDI’CT ......................: ●●○○○
----------------------------------------------------------

How to use ‘VIRDI’CT..??
●○○○○ Browse & leave it
●●○○○ Borrow & Read it
●●●○○ Buy it occasionally
●●●●○ Buy regularly
●●●●● Subscribe it now!!!