Not three weeks into the new year and already major change is delivered, and noted. Both Dealernews and Motorcycle Product News came out with significantly different, yet remarkably similar, makeovers in their January issues. Net result? Easier to look at, harder to read.

masthead comparison shows changes

At 96 pages, MPN’s first issue of the year is four pages shy of DN’s 100-page opener. But that’s not the story concerning the two most popular powersports b2b books landing on dealers’ desks. A quick look at the mastheads shows off MPN’s more aggresive graphic style vs. DN’s restrained gray on gray with a gradient blue rounded graphics frame style that ends up blending art and copy into a difficult to decipher table of contents. MPN’s use of process yellow with a bare tint of magenta also falls short when applied to headline copy.

Inside, there’s more news, both good and bad. The good – both are taking advantage of the very powerful desktop editing tools now available primarily in Adobe’s CS+ series, and to a lesser extent in Quark’s diminishing share of the software layout market. The bad – not knowing when change is for the better, or worse. (The ability to kern a thousandth of an em is of use only when you’re publishing a half-million words and need to shave a page or two for pagination.)

Because trade publications are by nature intended to be read, the emphasis should always be on legibility. For decades legibility studies involving eye movement, retention and comprehension have repeatedly validated certain basic tenets regarding typeface, leading, line length and color. MPN’s continued use of four-column layouts and reversed, wrapped body copy both swim upstream in that regard.

reversed body copy is legibility no-no

For Dealernews, the news isn’t so bad, although increasing the leading in a style move while reducing the font size to shoehorn all the copy into the page count is directly at odds with improving readership. It’s a style gimmick, not an informed design decision. And neither is their use of multiple fonts and styles; condensed, bold, roman and italic, sprinkled among several different faces, all on the same page.

Dealernews’ use of multiple sidebar styles is chaotic bordering on illegible. Points off for applying too many gradient variations. MPN gets points for more adventurous graphic approach, but those are offset by narrow four-column layouts that force eye to traverse back and forth in a movement better suited to Wimbledon.

The verdict: even though art directors universally chafe at the restraints of a three-column grid and the usual suspects when it comes to type styling, there’s a reason why the old reliables are old and reliable. They’re legible, and that’s the first order of business when your book involves words matched to art. Let the commercial advertisers stumble and trip – those goofs can always be fixed in time for the next go-round. But consistency and – most importantly, reader loyalty – depends on an easily read format that takes time to look at the product from the reader’s point of view.

Grades: MPN gets B for concept, C for execution. DN gets C for concept, C- for execution.