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sheds gramps look
Redesign to make it more accessible to young
By Jeff Bercovici
Most magazines would be happy to be able to claim a history that spans well over a century. But when the magazine in question covers the latest developments in science and technology, strong ties to the past can be a liability as well as a point of pride.
Case in point: Popular Science.
The magazine was around well before the Wright boys caught air at Kitty Hawk and before Einstein proved that matter and energy are two sides of the same coin.
But Popular Science faces a quandary, an ironic one too. Interest in science news is at an all-time high, which should be good for the magazine. It also has a very large readership.
The problem is that this readership, which understands the title, is aging, and that the general reading public doesn't quite know what to make of the magazine.
Is it a journal of scientific inquiry?
A gadgets guide?
A do-it-yourself book?
In an attempt to rectify this situation, the 1.55-million-circulation title is unveiling a major redesign with its October issue, its first since 1995.
The new look includes a more laid-back lower case logo, a retooled news section and a new back-of-the-book department for in-house product testing reports.
It's also chock-a-block with boxes, sidebars, charts, statistics, photographs and other design elements that the generation of men brought up on Maxim and ESPN The Magazine has come to expect.
"We wanted to appeal to a whole new generation of readers who may think they know the magazine from their dad or their grandfather," says Cecilia Wessner, who has been with Popular Science since 1990 and has served as its editor since spring of last year.
"People have mistaken perceptions of what this magazine is pretty much across the board," says Wessner.
"We wanted to let everyone know that just because this magazine has such a long and rich history doesn’t mean it is an old-time magazine. It's very up-to-date."
Like others of the former Times Mirror Magazines, Popular Science was allowed to grow somewhat moth-eaten in the years before the unit was sold to Time Inc. The redesign has been planned since last summer but had to wait until Popular Science was comfortably installed at its new home.
Wessner says the old design scheme left much to be desired.
"People want fast data and fast, interesting graphics, and our design couldn't handle a lot of new input."
Above all, she says, the aim of the new look is to achieve increased flexibility, eliminating the artificial distinctions that existed within the title's various departments and offering readers multiple "points of entry" into each feature story.
The front-of-the-book section "Newsfronts," which before consisted of six separate departments, has been fused into one to reflect the convergence of technologies such as, for instance, computers and cars.
"It's no longer 'I'm not into automotive so I'm going to skip that section.' That's part of the problem of having a reputation."
In the back of the book, all the product tests and reviews have been grouped together under the heading "Firsthand."
This month's installment contains reports on the 2002 Dodge Ram pickup truck, the Dirt Devil Spot Scrubber and a variety of meals that are ready to eat.
As the most widely read of the science magazines, a group that includes Discover and Scientific American, Popular Science is also the most accessible--or, as science snobs might put it, the most dumbed down.
With its many blurbs and "charticles," Popular Science will doubtless be even more appreciated now by guys who believe that nothing is worth reading that can't be scanned during a commercial break.
But Wessner denies that what the magazine is selling is "science lite."
"We're not a magazine for scientists. We are Popular Science, so the magazine must be accessible, but we made a conscious effort with word counts and point size to make sure to give the readers the information they're used to."
In the first half of 2001, Popular Science's total paid circulation increased by 0.4 percent to 1,572,540. Newsstand sales increased 3.6 percent to 155,831, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Advertising pages in Popular Science were down by 26.3 percent through July, according to the Publishers Information Bureau. Ad revenue was down 17.4 percent, versus last year, to $16.2 million.
September 11, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
-Jeff Bercovici is a staff writer for Media Life.
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