~Saturday~ Last night I did something I haven't done in a very long time. I read a printed magazine.
And I must say (to put it rather mildly), it was not an optimal experience—it was not even a good experience.
In fact, I can't imagine doing it again—for another very long while.
It was Wired magazine, and more specifically, it was the March 2014 edition of Wired magazine. Here is a very basic content analysis of the first 42 pages of the 128-page edition:
- 25 pages (60% of the 42 pages) of full page ads
- 4 pages (10% of the 42 pages) of front matter (i.e., tables of contents and publishing info
- 13 pages (20% of the 42 pages) of features or articles I might find interesting
And here’s how that played (laid) out in terms of content type, placement, sponsors (where applicable), and font size:
So what contributed to my poor user experience? Although not the complete list, here are three big contributing elements:
- Clearly, a large majority of this magazine consists of full page ads.
- There was arguably a full 10 pages before I got to anything of real interest to read. (It's arguable as to whether tables of contents are of interest to read.)
- Most of the font in this magazine is too arduous to read for my 57-year old eyes. It’s arguable as to whether I’m in the demographic of the audience for this publication, but I think I am—if not by the age criteria, by the industry that I work in, and with respect to my interest in “gadgets.”
Is anyone else still reading printed magazines? Feel free to click on “Leave a comment” to share.