New Look, Same Commitment

It’s been said that in business, there is no such thing as standing still. If you’re not moving forward, you’re falling behind. Innovation and competition are in a state of perpetual motion.

That’s true when it comes to business, technology—and publishing.

Readers’ tastes and needs change. And magazines, be they printed or published online, are constantly inventing ways to draw readers in, to keep them engaged, and to inform and entertain them. Any magazine that fails to adapt risks irrelevancy.

The look of the Baseline print magazine had not been touched in any significant way since its launch five years ago—an eternity in any industry. Much has happened in that time, which spans the wake of the Internet bubble burst to the rise of mobile computing and Web services. So, six months ago, we asked our art director, Victor Williams, to figure out what Baseline readers needed and to redesign the magazine to better serve them.

We unveiled the redesign with our June issue

Williams, an award-winning art director who previously worked at Sports Illustrated, Life and The Wall Street Journal, has produced an easy-to-read, easy-to-navigate publication that features more compelling graphics and illustrations; bolder, cleaner headlines and story type; and a better flow from one section to the next within the magazine.

Readers will also notice that we’re tying our print publication more closely with our Web site. Throughout the magazine, readers will see links to www.baselinemag.com. For instance, in the front of the magazine, we now feature an expanded online table of contents directing readers to special features. On our letters page now features feedback to Baseline’s Web logs, such as the I.T. Project Management blog written by award-winning senior writer Kim S. Nash. And within our print stories, readers will see links to related stories and background information from the substantial repository of Baseline’s articles and research.

One thing we haven’t changed is our content. You, our readers, have consistently told us how much you value our news analysis, columns, workbooks, vendor profiles and, especially, our in-depth case studies. If anything, we’re committed to producing ever-more-thorough reports.

We plan to do that both in print and here on our Web site, where traffic this year is double what it was in 2005. Since the beginning of the year, we’ve been making a number of changes to the site. We’ve also beefed up our online news operation, started producing additional case studies for the site, and are expanding our already rich library of tools, research and expert opinion.

We have also hired a new online editor, Doug Bartholomew, an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years’ experience. Doug had been running a successful publishing business, but decided to give that up for a chance to join Baseline.

Over the years, Doug has been at IndustryWeek, where he wrote and edited for the Industryweek.com Web site, started a weekly blog, won an award for Web-based commentary on the demise of Oldsmobile, and was a Neal Award finalist for his e-business articles. His work has also appeared in a number of big-time publications, including the Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine, Chief Executive and Corporate Finance.

Doug will be working closely with Todd Spangler, a veteran Baseline staffer, who was named last month as our News Editor, overseeing both our print and online news efforts.

In five years, Baseline has become one of most influential business and technology publications. Most important, we’ve garnered an extremely loyal readership of the nation’s most forward-thinking business and technology leaders.

But we won’t rest on past accomplishments. We’re committed to serving your needs now and in the future. And I invite each of you to tell me how you think we’re doing, and what you think we could be doing even better.

John Mccormick
Editor-In-Chief
[email protected]