Volume 19–4 (Low Res).pdf

y Joyce Rutter Kaye
MONOGRAM
ince the mid-1980s, specialized maga-
zines have proliferated, satisfying devo-
tees of even the most arcane and
obscure pastimes. Somewhere in Amer-
ica people are pensively thumbing
through the latest issues of Bassin: Cigar
Aficionado, Chili Pepper and Women and Guns.
For D.J. Stout, art director at Texas Monthly, magazines
can never be too specialized or personalized.
He envisions each copy of Monogram, his generalist magazine of the future,
to be as unique as the thumbprints left on its pages by readers. By employing selective
binding and computerized, interactive reader-response technologies, Monogram
will enable subscribers to tailor the magazine to their own interests by pre-selecting
the stories they would like to read each month. Therefore, a Texas housewife like
Shirley Sue Wharton could choose an article about pie making, while a biker like
Randy "Bubba" Simpson could opt for an in-depth feature about the art of tattooing,
as the mock layouts here illustrate.
Stout is intrigued by the notion of giving people a say in the products and services
they use. He says Monogram was inspired by several factors, including newsweeklies
which recently experimented with ink-jetting subscribers' names on covers, and
the emergence of The Box, a new cable video music channel which operates like a
jukebox, allowing viewers to select and pay for videos they would like to watch at
home. "It occured to me that more and more people want to be offered a choice: says
Stout. "Why not apply that to magazines?"
While Stout realizes the technology for Monogram already exists, he acknowledges
that the logistics would be more nettlesome. Since he proposes offering readers
a choice of six stories per issue, selected from four subject categories, at least 24 articles
would need to be written, edited, designed and produced each month. These
would include choices from entertainment, politics, travel, food and other general-
18
interest areas. Stout resolved the economic and manpower problems involved in producing
such volume by turning Monogram into a digest reminiscent of the Utne
Reader, in which issues would be planned to combine original work with reprints of
published articles.
The prototype for Monogram reveals the designer's evenhanded application of
quirkiness and elegance at Texas Monthlywith its liberal use of white space and illustrative
headline type. To keep the design streamlined from copy to copy, he prefers to
keep the layouts simple. "I would give it a pretty rigid design format, by keeping certain
elements, such as body type, consistent;' he says. Monogram's most creative
attribute, he adds, is the potential diversity of subject matter. To highlight this feature
in the premier issue, Stout proposes publishing a photo of each reader on his or her
own personal copy. The portrait would appear below a monogram of their own initials,
an element which would remain as the logo on subsequent issues. Coverlines
would be unnecessary, as subscribers know what they have selected to read.
With this variety of editorial choices and a diverse audience of readers, Monogram
would greatly appeal to advertisers as well. In addition to easily finding their target
audiences, advertisers would also have the option of inserting value-added products
each month. Shirley Sue Wharton's personal copy, for example, would include
recipe cards, coupons, and listings of local restaurants, while Randy "Bubba" Simpson
would receive listings of tattoo parlors and sheets of temporary tattoos to sample in
his issue. The one drawback Stout sees is a dangerously intimate coexistence between
*** *Ty editorial and advertising departments. "You would
00, 400, have to find a way to draw the line: he says.
But Stout feels in the end, readers would ultimately
benefit from being able to pick and choose
what they want in each magazine, from perfume
scent strips to coupons to blow-in subscription
cards, "This way" he says, "you could take all those
annoying things that fill magazines and make
them advantageous:
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