NEW LOOK – Model Engineer & Workshop

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

And for those spotting missing bullets etc., please be aware that was the first proof of the cover.

It was seeking views on the design and could have been populated by ‘Lorem Ipsum’…

We’ve been through at least four amendments since, and the text will still need to be changed to reflect the final content.

[John Haine]

On John Haine Said:

Well I’ve just seen the latest issue online from my library via Libby.  It seems to be called Model Engineer’s Workshop….  Err…

Perfectly in line with expectations, John

https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/topic/mew348/#post-778830

MichaelG.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

For those that skip the site’s front page, this ha sjust been added to “News“

[dc1Participant @dc1]

The cover looks great. Typos are minor problems at this stage.

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Official email just arrived saying I need do nothing and the new mag will arrive on the 21st. I wait with bated breath.

[Ches Green UKParticipant @chesgreenuk]

I did subscribe to Model Engineers’ Workshop magazine (rather than the more railway-engine biased Model Engineer magazine) when I joined the forum a few years back.

But I only subscribed for a year as I quickly realised that the topics I was interested in could appear in either magazine eg static steam engines, workshop practice, build stories etc. So I felt I was between a rock and a hard place.

However, the new, combined magazine might lure me back in.

Ches

Note: I have no interest in building model railway engines or watching them going around tracks but do admire the devotion and skills required to build and run them.  I’m particularly fascinated by Blondiehacks’ build of her Pennsylvania A3 Switcher.

[dc1Participant @dc1]

I quite like the new cover design. It jumps out at you. Some of the other complaints are very relevant to read especially about visibility on newsagents shelves. I have not been to a newsagents for over 10 years so I have no thoughts on this. Come to think of it, I have not been to any shop for over 10 years.

I think the top green banner looks out of place but more because of the content, photos are to small to be of use but the actual text would be fine. Perhaps change the banner every month, perhaps rotate it a few times a year. 4 colours?

Main header and title is OK, I like the font. Established 1989 is irrevelevant. The & Workshop needs a space I think.

Again, I think 2025 is probably irrelevant but it would be a bit difficult to use January, February etc. over 13 issues without it appearing stupid although it appears to have been done in the past. I see a comment above about using the year to find issues. I think month, year magazine number is fine. Volume number could go inside on the information page for readers that needed it. Page numbers seem to be using continuos numbers for each issu instead of starting at 1 for each magazine. This might be better starting at one. Newer and prospective readers might be happier starting with page one every time tather than say page 240 because they might think they missed something?

The green contents is OK but a bit cluttered. The yellow at the bottom likewise looks out of place. Font should be standardised to match the top, Model Engineer and Workshop. Thoughts are mainly positive.

 

 

 

 

 

[John AbsonParticipant @johnabson65530]

Dear Neil,

Wish you good luck in your new responsibility, but that new front cover is truly ‘not how to do things’ and looks like the product of an amateur graphic designer let loose for the first time with In Design, guided by a marketing team with little understanding of the product and the market they are trying to bring together coupled with a nostalgic look back to popular magazine covers of the 1970s or 80s.

No doubt someone said ‘we want it to look exciting and attractive’ (nobody EVER got fired for that, which is often part of the problem), but the first response to that is ‘to whom?’ – and IMO making a pair of august technical publications that look like the front of ‘Old Glory’ is really neither appropriate nor appealing.

Some more specific points:

1 – Mix of fonts in the banner. What’s that all about? It breaks so many rules and loses clarity, and not helped by the shouty colours contrast. If  ME and MEW are merged then don’t be mealy-mouthed about it, give us an image worthy of our stride forward united into the brave new future.

2- ‘Hobby engineer’  Where did that come from?? – ME attracts a lot of serious engineers, some of whom do it for a living. The point simply isn’t about it being a hobby, ME and MEW are serious about their undertaking, paid or unpaid. Patronising your customers is a poor look. I’m a retired professional engineer and see my subscription to ME as a continuation of my professional interest.

3-  Just too busy and confusing. A lack of ‘clear space’ between elements of the cover. ME and MEW were/are both classy titles and not served well by this.

4- My final crucial point is that people don’t like change. You’ve got a bit of a task here to weld (figuratively) two long-standing readerships into one, and keep them all happy. A smart tactic would have been to design a cover (and internal design, which based on what I see here worries me) which reassures those readerships that the best of both will continue. What we see here alienates rather than reassures, and runs the risk of diminishing your circulation.

Having said that, good luck with it all!

j.

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

With a collection that runs back to 1945 and odd copies back to 1919 the Need for the MONTH, YEAR, EDITION NUMBER and VOLUME are vital. For the casual reader this may seem irreverent but to loyal subscribers of many years standing this information is very important. PLEASE include it on the front cover, somewhere. Noel.

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

I fully agree with John Abson’s opinion regarding the cover of the new ME&W

It does seem we have been discussing this cover design on the forum for what seems like ages. Am I correct that the mag has now gone to the printers so that further discussion here is pointless?

Ian  P

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I don’t think it has but even so the general layout, fonts etc (except main heading) could be altered for forthcoming issues. Also as that was not the final cover who knows what we might get!

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Thank goodness for that I hope you are right Jason.

[derek hall 1Participant @derekhall1]

Dc1 said ……….”I have not been to a newsagents for over 10 years so I have no thoughts on this. Come to think of it, I have not been to any shop for over 10 years.“…….

…..where do you live, on a desert island? or permanently live on one of those Antarctic research bases?

 

 

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Derek,

I’m sure you are not aware that DC1 has become seriously disabled since his days as editor of both ME and MEW.

Rod

[derek hall 1Participant @derekhall1]

No I didnt know that, thanks and much humble apologies dc1…

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

I think the only retail outlet where one might see a copy of MEW or whatever it will be called these days is W H Smith.  What will happen when they disappear, as seems quite likely?

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

They are already disappearing unfortunately

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

We’ll have to hope that other newsagents and more general shops stock the umpteen special-interest magazines published.

Although I think the trial cover badly designed, and the layout of ME recently rather peculiar; what counts is the range and quality of the text written mainly by the contributors.  If the majority of them are all from just one or two aspects of model-engineering, it will look as catering for only those aspects.

In a way, the amalgamation brings back ME’s original generality, when articles on workshop equipment were as important as those on miniature railway locomotives and road vehicles, and on full-size engineering, museums, etc. And so it should!

Indeed, we might ask if after a running-in period, the title should revert simply to Model Engineer. That was the original and continuing title, after all; and would end the spurious, relatively recent split that implies almost separate hobbies. Notwithstanding our own self-deprecating humour about those build tools so they can make… more tools.

That, and the less-frequent issues, may mean long constructional serials having to be pruned; but really the more advanced projects using conventional methods should not need highly-expansive working. That is more suited to projects designed with the less experienced in mind – who may be further helped by more general items on workshop methods. Builders of the most ambitious, high-fidelity models may be expected to need only drawings and a few explanations correlating model to full-size and its manufacturer’s modifications (as, e.g., Doug Hewson gives us). For tips on making the trickiest bits, sometimes diagrams may help more than words or photographs.

Major series like that on the development of the industrial steam-engine are important, but better as a book sold via our regular specialist book-publishers; with just brief summaries in the magazine.

 

So really, once we are used to MEW having ended; how about a Model Engineer by just that title, a serious but readable journal covering its theme as broadly as practicable, uncluttered in layout; between covers that stand out on the shelf while reflecting not “graphic design” coz-we-cannery, but the theme’s range and quality?

[Ches Green UKParticipant @chesgreenuk]

An interesting article from Aug 2022 ….  Charted: How has the UK consumer magazine industry evolved? Two decades of change – https://pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/magazines/uk-consumer-magazine-industry-charts/

Some extracts, with my bold…

 

Print is still a significant medium for many but has been in long-term decline, with digital editions and subscriptions for the most part not making up for this drop in sales.

“You would struggle to find a large publisher that would even describe itself as being in an industry called ‘magazines’. These businesses now think of themselves as passion businesses, hobby businesses or audience businesses. “That’s completely different to how these companies were seeing themselves just ten years ago, where they would have described themselves as magazine businesses that are trying to diversify revenue streams into other areas.”

Like all publishing sectors, magazines have been hit by sharp falls in print advertising revenue, while digital advertising spend has been monopolised by tech platforms such as Google and Facebook.

In 2000, some 1.6 billion magazines were circulated in the UK. Last year, that number was down to 565 million. This is based on analysis of the total annual number of print and digital magazine copies and subscriptions by titles reporting to the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).

According to McCabe, verticals where consumers can easily substitute the content once found in a magazine with a newer online source are the hardest hit.

“The UK never really had a magazine subscription focus. Newsstands have been so central to the way the industry worked for 100 years, which distinguishes it enormously from almost every European country and the US,” said McCabe.

 

It looks like the writing is on the wall, or these days, on the web.

Since Mortons already have digital versions of their print magazines, I imagine they are prepared for when the tipping point of insufficient hard copy sales being financially justifiable is reached.

I do still like a physical magazine, but a digital version is almost as good, takes up no space, is never misplaced etc.

Ches

 

[Graham TitmanParticipant @grahamtitman81812]

To be honest i don’t care what the cover looks like i buy for what is inside and for the last dozen or so issues just a rehash of old articles that are decades out of date.If i had realised my subscription to both mags was up for renewal in December i would have cancelled both mags.

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

WELL CHAPS IT’S HERE ! I have the March offering of ME&W ! Volume Number on the front, and the serial number to – 4762. It’s thicker. At a quick glance it looks good.

Thanks to all who have commented, it’s been worth it – so far. Thank you to Neil and Diane, long may ME&W continue.    Noel.

[noel shelley]

On noel shelley Said:

WELL CHAPS IT’S HERE ! I have the March offering of ME&W ! Volume Number on the front, and the serial number to – 4762. It’s thicker. At a quick glance it looks good.

Thanks to all who have commented, it’s been worth it – so far. Thank you to Neil and Diane, long may ME&W continue.    Noel.

 

Thanks Noel,

I await further reactions with interest and great trepidation!

Neil

[Graham TitmanParticipant @grahamtitman81812]

The printing is worse than what the website was at the start the ink is to faint

[David AmbroseParticipant @davidambrose86182]

The printing is fine in mine.

[Graham Titman]

On Graham Titman Said:

The printing is worse than what the website was at the start the ink is to faint

Could you post a photo please? The original font we tried was far too dense, so we went to the one used for MEW. This is a snippet from one of the print proofs. It will be useful to know if there’s been a problem with the printing.

[Author]

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