Good Ideas from FPO Magazine

Like many designers, I am a sucker for a good magazine. I read all sorts, but design magazines, when done well, really ring my bell. That’s why I was very excited to get a complimentary copy of FPO Magazine in the mail two days ago. And that’s their first good idea — the magazine really was free. Not “free with subscription, cancel if you don’t like it.” Not “free with the purchase of 11 other issues.” Free free. They’re giving me a chance to check it out, no obligations, no need to cancel. I don’t know how I got on their mailing list, but score.

Inside, there was quite a bit to like. My favorite articles were the short and dirty ones. “Snark Attack” (evaluating the questionable design of Cosmopolitan), “Retouchy Subject” (which chose the month’s most heavily retouched cover photo), and The White Stuff: Disguising a Mess (design tips). I also really liked two longer articles a lot: Health & Unhappiness: Why a Daring Redesign Went Bad (the inside story on Health’s redesign) and SOS: Too Much Space (more design tips).

So will I subscribe? I’m still on the fence. I definitely enjoyed my free issue, but I suffer from over-subscriptionitis. I already receive more magazines in a month then I have time to read, and at $55/year I’m not sure I’ll be able to spend enough time with FPO for it to make sense to spend that much money on FPO. I’ll keep you posted.