27 February 2007

IMOnday: Interweave Knits

[Back to our regular topic: Knitting! And I know it's Tuesday. Big whoop.]

Wink asked what I thought about the new Interweave Knits layout. As an art director, of course I have an opinion! I understand that they're trying to freshen things up, lots of fresh patterns with some blogger action and all. And the idea of little editorial themes for the patterns is interesting. But separating the photos from the patterns seems wrong-headed. IK should be a leader, not a follower. They're following the tired Vogue Knitting setup. BTW, have you noticed the VK models? Yikes. I'm sure they're pretty girls. But if you slather them in eye makeup and ask them to pose like bad '50s mannequins, it's just bad. Only highlighted the '80s agony of the Bed of Roses set for me.

Back to IK. What I want to see is a page or three with all the featured items. Sort of like the yarn requirements page on the website. But in print form. Why do I have to leaf through every page of the magazine to see if the pattern I'm thinking of is in this issue? And I only have a few issues, since I'm rarely overwhelmed by the wonderfulness of one. And for gawd's sake, people, they call it an editorial well for a reason. Don't put ads opposite every editorial page. If the advertisers' pages are compelling enough, we'll read them. Put the onus on the advertisers to make appealing ads and leave the editorial content in its own space. I've heard people say they can't tell the difference between the ads and the "front of book" pictures of the patterns. Bah.

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