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.

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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!

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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.


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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.

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WWW- What Women Want

Gill India Communications Pvt. Ltd. (also the publishers of Today’s Traveller, B2B- Today’s Traveller Newswire & Pharma Health Newswire) has launched the magazine called “What Women Want” in December 08. According to Mr. Vivek Mittal, VP of GICPL- W3 is positioned against Femina & Good Housekeeping. Content wise also, it is going to target the housewife & working women from the age group of 18-60 years.

Content
It seems that editors of W3 had decided that they will touch every aspect of a contemporary woman's life. That is why the content of W3 is talking about beauty, home, recipe, fashion, health, bollywood, investment, real estate, trends, food, society, family, love, sex, relationships, travel… and what not… (huff… looking at the wide range they have tried to covered, I think they should have named it- “What women don’t want”).

On one hand it sounds very impressive that each single issue is covering such a wide range of content, but on the other side, it looks like a mess of variety of article. They must have tried to hook their TG reader in at least one or another article, but it clearly shows the lack of editorial direction to remain W3 focused. Apart from the main content of the magazine, regular extra columns are also their like jokes, horoscope, Gossip & top of that Poet’s corner!

Entire issue is divided (rather badly structured) into various sections which are carrying a couple of mediocre articles on the same topic. Entire issue looks more or less a compilation of various articles picked from any color supplement of a local newspaper. To distinguish each section from the other, a section cover before every section is put which again shows their lack of presentation. Selection & the language of the articles also fails to hook the reader into the magazine.

Design
As poor as content... Even the basics of design and layouts are kept aside while making of W3, that is all I can say about the design. Even a good photograph for the cover is not executed properly to make it a great cover. There seems no clarity in thoughts of putting cover stories & other elements to make it more newsstand friendly cover. Even the master head of W3 looks like very immature.

Inner pages are also designed badly & layouts have lots of basic flaws & inconsistencies. Fine, inconsistencies could be taken care if things were correct in first place. Even the basic grid for a regular page is not defined. On some pages it is three columns layout and on some pages lines of text are running across the page. Sometimes it right justified, sometimes it full or left or even centre aligned!! Type faces are also clashing for body & box elements. No consistency is maintained for text to be wrapped around the pictures. Pictures are not shot exclusively for the articles, but are taken from web or stock only. That is why most of the articles have non-Indian faces in their pictures.

Printing
Printing is not that bad I can say, but pre press work is pathetic. It seems that not even a single image is corrected before sending it to print. Since most of the pictures are taken from web or stock, the pictures are printed pixelated and over stretched.

Product
This 100 page monthly magazine is priced at Rs.30 which does not look too much as a cover price. But once you go through the issue, lower quality of paper used, average quality of printing (due to pre-press) and top of that, the disoriented content makes this product a substandard product.

Generally, people think that it is very is easy to create the content around general interests to make wider TG and also the wider scope to get advertisers in, but it becomes most difficult to manage the quality of that kind of content. Content planners must be extremely careful for selecting the topics & the articles which need to be carry. And then how they should be presented is also equally critical. As a conclusion all I can say is that W3 fails to serve "what women want".

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Stuff India: Disappointing Desi Edition

“World’s Best-Selling Gadget Mag” (as they claim top on the mast-head itself), Gadgets-Gear-Technology magazine, STUFF is launched in December in India in its desi avataar. You must be aware that its international edition was made available by Haymarket (also the publishers of Autocar, WhatCar? and What Hi-Fi), at lower price for Indian readers in November 2007. Now, almost a year later, this Indian edition is released with lesser pages, poor presentation, and inferior product quality at same lower price- Rs.100.

Though lots of life style and men’s magazines today also carry the content on Gadgets-Gear-Technology, but STUFF has its direct competitor already in the Indian market- T3, which eventually is also celebrating its second anniversary in the same month. And on news-stand, the launch issue of STUFF is looking very inferior product in comparison with the special issue of T3.

Content
Since this is the launch issue of Stuff, it has lots of burden on its shoulders- competing with competitor’s special issue, setting up its own image in readers’ mind, meeting with the expectations from launch issue etc. I think, launch issue of Stuff is failed to meet all of these. Since last November, pages were already getting reduced (from 202 in Nov.2007) in every issue and now in the launch issue it is slashed down to 114 only.

Content of the magazine is divided into three (almost equal in terms of page numbers) major sections- Hot Stuff, Features & Tested. Product range covered in the issue is good, but while looking at articles covered in Feature section, it doesn’t seem as this issue was planned to be the launch issue. These kinds of stories could go in later issues because they leave a wrong impression about the overall content goes in a regular issue of Stuff.

Design
It is inferior to the international edition of Stuff. Right from the cover to the inside pages- including photographs, design and illustrations- it is substandard. It is disappointing to see such a badly designed cover of a launch issue- poor treatment of cover photograph, poor background (though it is looking much better with white back ground in subscription advertisement), flawed imaging, and badly placed cover stories… A dull cover for the inaugural issue!

Same quality of presentation you can see in inside pages also, be it product shot (Page. 10, 44, 52, 57) or illustration (pg. 39) or a concept shot (pg. 70) or a layout (Pg. 40-41, 70, 92). ‘Top 10 of everything’ pages are looking good and rich in content.

Printing
Printing is OK but when it is compared with its earlier issues which were available in Indian market, it seems inferior. Hence, the readers’ expectations which are already raised by its international versions can become a big problem for Indian Stuff. Few pages are heavily saturated and few have registration problem.

Product
As I said, Indian readers must have raised their expectations in last one year because of ‘low-priced-UK-edition’ but at the same price this product disappoints a buyer. Pre-press work also needed to be improved.

As a conclusion, I would like to say that a careful selection of products & stories and better design & layout can definitely make this magazine a great gadget magazine.

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Mega Modelz: Modeling in Fashion

If it is fashion… there are designers… if there are designers, there are models…ramps… if there are models, there are agencies…photographers…stylists…

…welcome to the dazzling world of glamour!

Both, the fashion & the modeling (most of the time) seem collectively as one not two, but surely there is a blurred line between these two. It depends up to you if you want to make that line apparent or you want to vanish it. May be it is a smart way to target both in one shot that is why '100 communications', a Delhi based fashion event company has recently launched a bi-monthly magazine- 'Mega Modelz'.

Rough ramp to walk
'Models & Trends' (http://mediajunction.blogspot.com/2007/06/four-fs.html), Style & Speak (http://mediajunction.blogspot.com/2007/09/style-statement.html), FAD (http://mediajunction.blogspot.com/2007/12/magazine-on-fashion-day-2-day.html), FnL, Images:BOF, Gladrags and Asiana (Wedding & Fashion) are few of existing magazines in the same space- a mix of fashion-trends–modeling which are going to be tough competition for Mega Modelz.

Content
Inaugural issue of 'Mega Modelz' clearly shows the confusion of editorial direction. The structure of magazine, selection of stories, presentation of content gives a very shallow & disoriented editorial impression. What worse it could be that the cover story of inaugural issue itself is a wrong story to be even in the issue, forget about putting it as a cover story. On the cover it says- 'New age supermodels?' which as a cover story doesn’t convey what it is all about. And top of that, in the 5 pages long & shorter than around 600 words story, it gives a negative verdict (page 31) – 'An era truly had come to an end' because new faces (cricket- bollywood celebs) have stepped in modeling!

Content is poorly scattered across the magazine. Everything is there in one issue but it looks like a mess. Photographers, fashion makers, and models of course… everyone is featured or interviewed under various sections/columns names. At the end of issue, it is carrying a directory of modeling agencies, advertising agencies & photographers. It could be useful for its TG if it wasn’t erroneous (entire list of photographers' names from A to L is missing from alphabetical listing).

Design
Cover is looking attractive but credit goes to stunning photograph. Other elements on the cover are placed badly. It could be a great cover with a little efforts on layout & placing text on the cover as it has got very strong & perfect picture for its kind of cover.

Inside pages are looking mediocre as they don’t have any design style sheet. No guidelines for putting text on pictures, columns, text leading, type faces, font sizes.. nothing seems as per guidelines (which is for sure not there). It seems that designer was free to pick & use any font whichever was installed on his machine.

Printing
Most of the pictures looks like stock pictures or seems as taken from agencies. That is why there is no consistency in quality of photographs. Prepress work is done carelessly as you can't see true skin color in most of the pictures. Printing could be improved and that could makeup the weaknesses of color correction work. Cover is printed well, specially the back cover was needed that kind of excellence to print that advertisement.

Product
A tall size (21 x 29.5 cms) bi-monthly magazine of 100 pages is priced at Rs100 which is quite OK for its kind of product. Unless it is opened, magazine looks very classy that gives it a look of a rich product.

As a conclusion, if it doesn’t improve on main content of the magazine and if it not kept focused editorially, it will start looking a me-too kind of magazine with some glossy pictures.

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Naya... Ab aur bhi behtar Chandamama!

Great news for you if you still love to read Vikram & Vetala's stories in chandamama. 61 years ago B. Nagi Reddi and Chakrapani conceptualized a magazine for kids Chandamama that is still connecting the youth of tomorrow with our tradition, mythology and the his tory in the form of stories.

This long traveled magazine has got redesigned this month. November issue of Chandamama is looking better and so much professional than its past issues from last few years. New design has incorporated lots of new & attractive design elements through out the magazine including section bands, folio strip, blurbs, color codes etc.

Facelift of Chandamama
Bold & attractive fonts are giving a great visibility to headlines of the stories. New design also has a brilliant usage of fonts in body & other text elements like intros, boxes, blurbs, quotes etc.

Improved design is quite obvious right from the cover itself which has changed font for masthead. Cover also carrying a top band which was not there earlier. One more big change is that in this new chandamama, three cover stories are put along with their section names that helps the product to move faster on the news stand. Inside pages are also looking better with a mature & disciplined.

Cover CD
Not only the design point of view but Chandamama as a product is improved entirely as its paper is changed to glossy and the issue is bundled with one interactive CD. Yes, to attract its TG, this cover CD is carrying 12 issues of chandamama in digital format, along a trailer of action movie- Ramaa and the story of Krishna.

New & better chandamama is available on news stands at a increased cover price of Rs.25 (earlier it was Rs.15).

Cine Blitz Hindi is launched!

VJM Media, publishers of Cine Blitz, one of very few surviving magazines on Hindi Cinema, has introduced hindi edition of Cine Blitz. Priced at 40Rs. (while English edition is available at Rs50 on news stands), issue is looking great in first glance. I hope you have checked my review on Femina Hindi, which is also launched at same time. I must tell you that Cine Blitz is better 'Hindi version' than the Femina (hindi).

Content
Biggest mistake which happens in translating any content is that its translated verbatim, and that does not connects it readers. It should be re-written for the new TG instead.

One thing I would like to appreciate that they haven't treated the audience differently for the both, english & hindi editions. Hindi edition is carrying same articles in the same month as English edition is carrying unlike Femina (Hindi) which was translated from the previous month's content from the English edition. The subject of the magazine is not like that you can choose which story is relevant for a particular TG depending upon language only. That is why, I personally liked the idea of complete translation of English edition for the Hindi TG.
Though, there are lots of linguistic, translation, spelling, subbing errors in the magazine but again I would give higher ranking than the Femina's translation quality. In some places poor and wrong translation leaves a bad taste in the magazine. If words & spellings can be stylized & consistent, it can create its own space in the market very soon.

Design
It seems that internally even both the versions (English & Hindi) released in same month, still they first layout the English edition and then they just replace text in the same layout for the hindi edition.

It seems that entire English issue is dipped into some 'translating bowl' to replace all the English text with the Hindi text. Everywhere, well almost, every text element is translated and kept at & as it was in English edition of Cine Blitz. If some changes in colors & layout can be made keeping TG in mind, it could be improved.

They could have avoid the blunder they have done on the cover itself it hindi edition also was given the same serious attention. Main Image is showing second layer also right below the mast head and typical spelling errors on the cover give bad impression about the product.

Printing
Printing is excellent as it English edition is also known for. Only a few pages have registration error which can be omit hoping that will be rectified in next issues.

Product
Even at marginally low price from its English edition, Cine Blitz (Hindi) is using a good quality of glossy paper. Without dropping any big story from its English edition, it is a thick issue of 110 pages, which is worth to read for any Hindi reader & hindi cinema lover.

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Femina Hindi: Made for a desi girl but in urban style

It is meant for an Indian woman... a desi girl! I am talking about Femina – a 50 years old magazine for a contemporary woman of today's India. Though they claim to be number one women magazine in India, the truth is that it has got tough competition from Cosmopolitan, Savvy, Women's Era, Elle, Gurlz, Seventeen, 4thD Woman, Marie Claire, Prevention, Vogue etc. along with a little bit change in their respective positioning.

In such a competitive scenario, it becomes necessity to think out of the box to expand your brand visibility or even for sustaining your brand’s mindshare. In order to meet such requirements publications generally starts brand extensions in their own ways. World Wide Media India, perhaps for the same reasons, has decided to come up with the Hindi version its 50 years old brand – Femina… and the blunder happened!

Mistake also repeats itself
This kind of decision is not made for the first time by any publication house, same has tried several time in the past as well. And earlier also were done with the same kind of mistakes which WWM India has repeated now with the Hindi version of Femina. As the result, rarely any of those earlier magazines has managed to even survive. CHIP, GR8, Auto Motor & Sports, Overdrive, 360 Magazine & many more… whichever was started with same business model, fell down on the face and on the contrary they become a ‘successful’ case study of 'failure’ of this kind of projects.

Femina (hindi) seems so flawed and substandard product because of so many reasons-

• It has no independent product name (which could give it its own identity…that clearly shows its negligence by publishers)
• Articles are taken from old issue(s) of Femina and presented in the same way (without knowing the TG psyche & their preferences, their liking-disliking)
• Flawed & wrong translation (it seems that there is no dedicated team and its done by some sub standard freelancer translators)
• Very artificial language of articles (it seems that need of sub-editing is absolutely ignored)
• Unountable spelling errors (it seems that no proofing is done)
• Language inconsistency errors (it seems that text written & fed by several people, who have not followed any style sheet)

Trust me that I am not exaggerating, just have a look at mistakes I have found on the cover itself. And also the 'editorial' page as one example of erroneous pages of Famina (hindi). It clearly shows that Femina (hindi) is nobody's baby that is why it is launched with such a negligence. Otherwise no publisher can afford his product to be so flawed that can even damage the reputation of entire publication.

It could be dangerous for others
Publishers at WWM India, perhaps launched this hindi version as their brand extension, but they should have kept this in the mind that ‘this’ brand extension would have to compete with other strong & established magazines in the same genre. Looking at the quality & credibility of Femina (English) content, this hindi version could be a great threat for its competitors like Meri Saheli, Jagaran Sakhi, Manorama, Vanita, 4thD Meri Sangini, Grih Lakshmi, Grih Shobha, Good Homemaker, Madhurima, Woman on Top and various others. Now, here is good news for those competitors that they don’t need to take it seriously, until Femina (Hindi) is taken seriously by its own publishers.

Content
Femina (English) is respected & one of great women magazines and for its hindi edition is made from the articles from the same. That is why the content is pretty fine, but it could be far better if a few articles were original (or customized or re-written exclusively for the TG). Wrongly translated & misspelled words/sentences leaves very bad taste of reading that’s why it won't be able to hook the TG into it.

Cover photograph is good but the treatment of cover story is poor… Designer only can tell why the typo-cluttering is used or why that dirty looking red patch is put there on the cover. Lots of copy & spelling errors gives very bad impression of the product even on news stand itself. It stops a prospective buyer to make buying decision right there; and for a product's launch issue that is not good sign.

Design
If a publication house has two different magazines and both can not have the same design because of their different personalities, then why it is not true for both the versions of Femina? The layout, color schemes, grids, effects… which work well for the TG of English edition, not at all will appeal to the TG of its hindi edition.

Perhaps, same design team was asked to design pages for the hindi edition and they done it very reluctantly... just by replacing text on the pages, rest everything is same. Design & layout should have done keeping different positioning in mind. Through out the magazine, right from the cover till the last page, single font is used everywhere- be it body, box, heading, titles, captions, blurbs or quotations… and that create clashes & confusions among various text elements.

Printing
This is the only aspect where the hindi edition of Femina can win its reader's heart. Prepress work is excellent & printing is equally good.

Product
At the cover price of Rs.40 for a monthly magazine, the quality of paper its using, the amount of article it is carrying, it is a decent package.

As, I have mentioned in the starting, if language & presentation is not improved, rest everything is useless. If this magazine is treated as a separate and individual product by its publishers, then only it can be improved seriously & then only it can be at the level where Femina English today is.

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