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Photograph by Matthew O'Shea
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For a magazine staff, there’s nothing more exciting than a cover-to-cover redesign—a rare chance to rethink and reinvent all our pages, both editorially and visually. This issue marks the debut of St. Louis Magazine’s first such redesign in more than half a decade. Over the past six months, our staff—guided by gifted art director Kevin Goodbar—has been asking a series of questions: How well are we reaching our readers? What are we doing successfully? Where are we falling short? How can we make each issue more informative, more beautiful, more fun?
This issue contains our answers. As with any change, some readers will likely prefer what used to be, or wish that what’s now is a little more...well, we welcome your specific comments. What you should know is that throughout this half-year process, with its sketches and printouts and endless revisions, we always kept the reader at the center of our conversations. As you work your way through the issue, here are just some of the changes you’ll see:
- New fonts—clear and modern—that unify the magazine from section to section.
- One new department—Behind the Scenes—and name changes to two key departments: Dining Out has become Food & Drink, more appropriate for a section that also covers wine and gourmet groceries, while Culture, which has always been the place to read about events, has been renamed, well, Culture & Events.
- Our two-page Table of Contents now starts with one page devoted exclusively to the cover story, while the second offers a complete sequential overview of the entire issue.
- The Current section has been rebuilt completely, starting with its one-page entry point, First Shot (which has SLM siblings later in the book—First Look for Food & Drink and First Stop for Culture & Events). Current now closes with a page called Agenda, which offers our editors’ picks for five great things to do each month.
There’s much more to tell you—and indeed we have, here online. See our slideshow comparing the old and new designs and hear an interview outlining the decisions we made.
Redesign or no, I’m already out of room—without touching on our cover story (Best Places to Live), my usual mission here. Let me say, briefly, that introducing the new St. Louis Magazine this issue seems not simply like good timing, but altogether fitting. Both the cover package and our redesign are focused, in the end, on making you feel at home.
Stephen Schenkenberg
