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FROM THE FIELD
May 2004
Changes in Latitudes,
Changes in Attitudes
Nothing
else in your life stays the same. Why would this magazine?
Lots of changes
here. Check out this month’s news section, and you’ll see
FER
co-founder Jennifer Hicks now wears a new title. Officially our
managing editor since day one back in 1996, she now gets new
business cards that say executive editor. We’d call it a
promotion except that her old title never quite captured her
full function and influence here anyway. You can see more
details in the news section—but not too many. She cut whole
paragraphs because she said she didn’t warrant “that much
space.”
Another
change—we think a doozie—might be one that you’ve already
noticed. Yes, we’ve redesigned the whole magazine! It was about
time, we thought. Art director Julie Wilhm’s original look
served us well from ’96 through ’01, and an evolutionary update
in ’02 wore well, we thought, maintaining continuity while
providing some freshened zip. But in this speed-addled era of
VH1 Pop Up Videos, rapid CAD/CAM changes and Web surfing, we
figured it was time for a complete reskin.
If we’re on
track, you’ll detect a sense of speed, boldness, the electronic
age and quick functionality.
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If we're on
track, you'll detect a sense of speed, boldness
and quick functionality.
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Cleaning up,
simplifying and generally streamlining was high on our list.
You’ll see that starting with the subtly refined logotype on the
front cover. We played with the red oval, too, making it more
button-like—the kind of button you’d click on the Internet—the
kind you’d find at
www.fermag.com, for example.
Inside, we think
you’ll find each page easier on the eye now, and a quicker read.
Content-wise,
our departments and features function much as they did before,
but we think you’ll find everything handier. We chucked some of
the duller generic department headings in favor of phrases that
tell you more about what’s actually going on in each section.
(“News" didn’t really pin it down, did it?). Keeping you in the
express lane of your fast-paced and glamorous life, the
department stories themselves now are shorter and more direct,
with more topics per page.
Another related
priority, largely driven by our executive editor, in fact, was a
move toward “chunking” the feature stories, breaking the big
articles into more bite-sized components so you can move
quickly, almost shark-like, picking the parts you want to read
next.
Think of this as
the early release of the 2005 model FER. And look
for running changes. In coming months we’ll be adding new
departments to launch us into topics we haven’t pursued
before—all with the goal of providing you more kinds of
information that will help you do your jobs better.
There’ll be
other changes coming, too. Look for advances in our Web site, as
well as the intro of additional new information media systems.
We hope you like
what you’re seeing here in the May issue. If you like it, let us
know. If you think we’re a few fittings short of a gas hookup,
let us know. Suggestions? Tell us what you think at the e-mail
address under the picture of yours truly.
Brian Ward
Chief Editor
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