Waypoints

Walking the aisles of the local grocery store, I notice other shoppers with glazed looks on their faces. I'm as confused as they are. Once again, the store management has seen fit to rearrange the whole place, leaving customers to grope about the establishment in search of particular items. Numerous trips to the store later, I have yet to find the sun-dried tomatoes. My chicken Marsala will never be the same.

Thus, sensitive to the annoyance that change for change's sake can cause, we approached the redesign of AOPA Pilot with the reader in mind. All of us have picked up completely redesigned versions of our favorite magazines, only to discover that we can't find anything. Your favorite columnist is either gone or moved to the other end of the magazine. The letters section is in the back instead of the front. And what's with all those type faces? Can't those editors and designers make up their minds?

What's before you is the result of 18 months of work. (OK, most of the work was done in the last four months; we're procrastinators, just like everyone else.)

When pondering a magazine redesign, I'm reminded of how an FAA official once described modernizing the air traffic control system: "It's like trying to change a tire on a moving bus." You can never just shut the system down, make a change, power the system back up, and troubleshoot it. Airplanes are on the move continuously, day and night, 365 days a year. Any changes must be smoothly integrated into the existing system; and it had better work.

Modernizing a magazine isn't quite as torturous and the consequences of failure not nearly as daunting, but it is a bit like changing a tire on a moving bus. As one issue is sent off to the printer, another begins final production almost immediately. Between issues we manage to squeeze in the production of two or three newsletters for various projects. Yep, it gets a little crazy around here sometimes — a fact sometimes lost on the uninitiated. I once met an AOPA member who looked at the magazine and then asked me what I did the other three weeks of the month. He should be getting his medical back any time now.

This is Pilot's first overall revamping in more than 15 years; but since then, numerous parts of the publication have been tweaked and changed. The ad hoc changes resulted in a sometimes confusing array of icons, styles, and elements.

I think you'll agree that the new design gives the magazine a cleaner, more modern look. We didn't get to be the world's largest general aviation publication by offending readers, though. So we very much took an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" attitude toward the redesign. As a result you'll still recognize your favorite parts. The column heads contain elements from before, and all the columns and departments are in about the same sections of the magazine as they have been. You won't be wandering the aisles in search of Barry Schiff's "Proficient Pilot," for example. It's still a couple of pages after this column.

Much of the credit for the work goes to Creative Director Art Davis. Aptly named, Art oversaw the last redesign shortly after he joined AOPA 16 years ago. His vision of how a magazine ought to be put together is unmatched.

For the last 18 months or so, Art has been assisted by our new art director, Mike Kline. Mike brings a fresh, new eye to the paste-up table, ...er, computer screen. As you can see, he and Art make a splendid team.

A few comments on some of the more subtle changes: You'll find page numbers on almost every page that contains editorial material. We found ourselves annoyed at not being able find page numbers, particularly in the "Pilot Briefing" section; readers often told us the same thing. The advertisers' index, "Fly by Wire," in the back of the publication, is more user-friendly. It now contains telephone numbers and E-mail addresses to aid readers who would like to contact the advertisers. Likewise, "Calendar" has been reconfigured to make it easier to use.

A major addition is a new column, "Time in Type," by Bob Overmyer. In the last few months, I've introduced Bob to numerous people as "former astronaut and Marine test pilot Bob Overmyer." It's a bit of a misnomer. He should actually be introduced as "general aviation enthusiast Bob Overmyer." Though he's flown the space shuttle twice and has thousands of hours of military jet time, he has a deep love of general aviation in particular and flying in general. You'll see for yourself as you get to know him through the column.

One thing you won't find us doing is adopting the "USA McPaper" attitude that every subject must be covered in 300 words or less. Some publication experts believe that magazines must now compete with MTV and videos for readers' attention. Therefore, everything in magazines must be short, perky, and mindless. Never mind that the reader comes away knowing nothing more than when he started. Our research shows that readers look to Pilot for authoritative information. That's a point we're proud of and one we won't let go of easily.

So let us know your opinion of the new look. We can take it. As always, we're open to your suggestions and ideas. Our address, telephone, fax, and E-mail information is on page 11. (It has a page number on it, I promise.)

Now, if I can just find those sun-dried tomatoes....