Newsweek, for certain news readers

Newsweek is continuing its changes with one less issue this summer, adding to the recent magazine redesign and decision to have Stephen Colbert guest-edit an issue.

Colbert was a funny and fresh take on news, but other than that, I can't say I like the changes. Newsweek has been very open about its intent to market to a more highbrow audience (which I am the antithesis of at this point), and it shows. The content has become denser and deeper, which is great, unless you loved the variety of news you got in Newsweek each issue rather than the comprehensive reports in one bit of politics or international affairs that it now offers. In the new issues, all the attention is put on one topic for the whole week's worth, and this has caused Newsweek to skimp with its once varied yet deep coverage.

Aside from the shift in focus, Newsweek's redesign has caused some problems. Just because you're marketing to a more highbrow audience doesn't mean you have to produce the world's crappiest design. Random slices of panoramic photos? Hideous fonts? Monstrous pull quotes? Freaky covers, almost all of which are close-up mugs? Heavy, unaligned white space and scrunched columns? Meager folio branding? It screamed ugh when I first saw it, and it hasn't gotten much better. The magazine design has gone backwards; it now looks like something I did on one of my first days of design classes, not what a team of professionals would put out as a final product.

One compliment I do have is to Newsweek's coverage. Although I may not enjoy the topics or time spent on each as much, you can't beat Newsweek's columnists or reporting ability. I've read Newsweek for years simply because of these great columnists, and as I found their accounts informative, revealing, and well-based, I grew to appreciate the rest of the magazine.

I have a few months until my subscription runs out; I hope Newsweek's new direction evens out by then and can still serve people who aren't that rich and politically minded but still want a good account and analysis of what's going on in the world.