Change is difficult. Even when we want it to happen, change takes guts. That’s true both when you’re the one trying to effect it, and when you’re on the receiving end. Change has been the norm for us recently at Flight Training. We’re into our third month of the magazine's redesign and I want to share with you a flavor of the comments we’ve received. I do this primarily to illustrate that this is a magazine published for the readers, and we value feedback. And thankfully, the feedback has been mostly positive.
You’ve told us you love the content and continue to value it in the new design. This is fantastic because in addition to trying to entertain and inspire, we also want to be a source of reliable information. Even commentators who don’t care for the new design went out of their way to say they love the content, and that gives us confidence moving forward.
On the look of the magazine—the design—comments were more mixed. Many wrote in to say they love it and find it more appealing and inspiring. But many others aren’t impressed. A pattern of comments developed early on, and we’ve already gone a long way toward mitigating their concerns.
Bob Feugate spoke for many readers when he wrote, “Headers and footers were in smaller type than the phone directory. Rod Machado et al deserve to have their names readable.” Feugate is correct. The font size in certain places—in writers’ bios, certain captions, some bylines—was distractingly small, and already have been changed. Feugate continued: “Do you really want the reader to [read this]?” It’s a great question, and speaks to the intent of using such small type. We know that people read magazines in different ways. They skim, take bits here and there, and rarely read every word. When you use text size to help create a hierarchy on the page, as we did with smaller story footers, it illustrates that piece’s importance. In other words, it wasn’t critical information. But it defeats the purpose if it’s unreadable—which is why we’ve changed that.
Beyond the font size, the mere fact we instituted change seems to drive many of the comments. My advice is that if you really want to effect change, help us shape the content. There are dozens of ways we hope to interact with our readers. On one extreme is a contributor-written story. We always read submissions, and we consider every one for publication. There’s “Flight Lesson,” our section about a lesson learned, either during training or after. We have a “Success Story” every month about someone who has soloed or obtained a pilot certificate. E-mail me with a story idea you’d like to see in the magazine, and we’ll consider it.
Flight Training is and always will be your magazine that we publish for your benefit. So please feel free to participate by writing a story, e-mailing a suggestion, or simply writing a letter.
Talk to you soon.
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