Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Flipping hell. Have we got it all wrong?

So the woman's husband hands her a copy of Nuvo magazine and selects a copy of Maclean's for himself, off the waiting room pile. Then both start to thumb through the magazines. They both started from the back and flip-flip-flipped forward, pausing from time to time to point out this or that.

On closer attention every one of the magazine-reading people in the waiting room were all flip-flip-flipping from the inside back page forward. And the thought occurred: what if we have been doing this all wrong all these years? What if people want a magazine they can read from the back and we simply haven't twigged to it yet? Do magazine architecture and design conventions matter as much as we thought or is it a load of tosh? Consider what this quite unscientific waiting room observation* means.

  • The last page, facing the inside back cover, becomes one of the most important pages in the magazine, setting the tone for all that flipping to follow.
  • The standard structure of most magazines -- front of book, well, back of book -- counts for naught with casual readers.
  • The well of most magazines will be approached from the back and, even if they reverse course and read through it the other direction, all the effort of carefully constructing opening spreads, running heads and anything that is told in linear fashion is likely completely lost on them.
  • These readers are surfing through the magazine looking for something that catches their attention and it means that sub heads and decks and other display writing, as well as photography, illustration, sidebars and captions, means the difference between catching them or not.
  • Opening spreads and single page openers have to be compelling not because people will come to them first, but because readers need to be motivated to stop and reverse course to read the story.
  • Good advertising becomes as important as good editorial. It's also a reminder that, as the late great Howard Gossage said: "People read what they like, and sometimes it's an ad."
  • The tradition of stacking small ads at the back actually gives these greater purchase with pass-along readers than they get with subscribers.
  • Good ads in the back of the book are just as likely to be seen and read as at the front; just what we've been telling advertisers for years.

*Our observation is that people flipping through the magazine at the newsstand tend to flip from the front. Go figure.

9 Comments:

Blogger Brendan said...

Well... no offence, but 'duh.'

9:41 am  
Blogger D. B. Scott said...

No offence taken, but does your "duh" refer to the fact that we've had it wrong? Or that this is so self-evident that it's not worth talking about?

9:54 am  
Blogger Brendan said...

Sorry, that was a moronic attempt at humor.

It’s definitely worth talking about if anyone is under the impression that readers are still uni-directional, linear beasts. I thought it was assumed they would jump around, say, like drunk monkeys. But, then I may be pushing the animal references here…

Beyond the fact that space is usually at a premium at most mastheads (so you have to make every inch count when it comes to retention and branding), the influence of the web on the reading habits of mag browsers can’t be understated.

It’s funny how we think that’s a linear process as well – that mag design and content decisions have only influenced online, not the other way around. It works both ways. Count on your readers to drop in on any page, stay for a few quick scans, and then move on. You’ve got to have triggers and hooks on every page to pull them in, and then they’ll freely move backwards or forwards. Obviously, that’s not the most revolutionary insight you’ll ever hear. It’s always been important to have those triggers.

We recently relaunched so that our design and approach to content would allow for greater accessibility on every page. Mind you, we often have to fight our own instincts (and the designers’) to make that happen.

But, in my opinion anyway, readers have become more fickle and individualistic. Thinking they follow ANY uniform pattern is probably misguided.

Hope that makes sense… Love the site, by the way.

Brendan

12:37 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought this was common knowledge as well....?

2:18 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I, too, used to read from back to front (before I got started in the biz). I did so, so I could get to the meat without having to flip through all those ads at the front, which are especially prevelent in the fashion titles I was reading at the time.

5:54 pm  
Blogger D. B. Scott said...

I don't doubt that web habits have cross pollinated with magazine reading habits. The only thing is, most of the people I was observing were 60+ and therefore not as likely to be web heads to the same degree. Still, the comments are good and ammunition I would hope for editorial conversations around design, signposting, navigation aids and what I would call "subsidiary display" in all sorts of magazines.

9:47 pm  
Blogger Brendan said...

Someone still cares what the 60+ demo thinks...? But you can't sell them rum-based products, mobile phones, or Speedos. Well, not in good conscience anyway... Researching 60 year olds reading habits. I never.

Just as an aside, it would be interesting to find out how little/much older generations are being affected by technology that they don't consume first hand. Can we assume they still consume magazine content the same way they always have? I honestly don't have a clue. Interesting thought though...

Brendan

1:42 pm  
Blogger Jon Spencer said...

I have heard tell that some older citizens are extremely Net-savvy, so maybe we shouldn't use too broad a brush in our generalizations here...

5:03 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Readers flip from back to front when they aren't sure how much time they have on their hands. Why? Because they know they can flip right to short hits rather than wade through the ads, the TOC, and other stuff, including the editor's note, at the front. It's a time strategy, one that I employ myself, epecially when I'm waiting for a 4 pm dental appt and it is 4:15 and I can still hear the drill at work on the guy ahead of me.

3:51 pm  

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