ATM Format change for Sky and Telescope

[mkoloski@orednet.org (Michael Koloski)]

I apologize if this is a bit off topic.  But I suppose
that many of you are readers of Sky and Telescope.
In the last issue the editor announced a pending
redesign in format.  I am upset, anticipating that
the redesign will be along the same lines as I have
seen in other mags.  Below is a copy of the msg I
sent to S&T.  If any of you have similar hangups 
with the visual hodge podge that publishers are
trying to pass off as "modern" layout you might
consider letting S&T know.  I am in hopes that the
product will not be as "bad" as I anticipate.  In 
which case S&T will be the first to learn about my
relief.

Message to Sky and Telescope:

To: skytel@skypub.com
Cc: mkoloski@orednet.org
Reply-To: mkoloski


Dear Editor,

Please read your own mag.  On page 6&7 of the July 97
issue you print a very sage, and evocative essay on the
demise of traditional viewpoints and values (my inter-
pretation).  Then I flip the page to read your announcement
of the format redesign.  Was this a planned tactic or just
coincidence?

Oh, dear editor, I am experiencing deja vu.  About two
years ago one of my favorite magazines, "Natural History"
modernized their format.  In my opinion it has been a
visual disaster!  I find it difficult to 1) find things, 2)
follow text and thought, 3) graphically (pics and diagrams)
disjointed and overly "flashy".  Over the ensuing months
I have lost interest in a magazine that I used to literally
read "cover to cover".  I will not renew.  My lose of interest
of course is not entirely due to the new format, but the
change was undoubtedly instrumental.  And my reaction is
not intellectual it seems more physically and emotionally
engrained.

Please understand that I am not an old fuddy-duddy.  I am
closer to 50 than 60, an  engineer, computer literate, and
in addition a trained visual artist.  I have to believe that
if someone as visually "tolerant" as I have problems with
so called "modern" magazine formats, then there must be
thousands of others with the same problem.  I have tried to
specifically define my hangups and have not been totally
successful.  However, I think I have a clue.  The new magazine
formats seem to emphasize the "media" over the "message".
Magazines becoming TV--frightening isn't it.

Dear editor, that may be okay for some mags---"People",
"TV Guide", "Newsweek".  But not, S&T.  Format over-
shadowing photos of Messier Objects--get real.  I'll await your next
issue with an open but aprehensive mind.

Sincerely,

Mike Koloski

End of Message.

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