News Editor talks with the designers of the Journal's new format.
That was how Designer Greg Paul of Boston-based publishing consultants Brady and Paul Communications viewed the two years the company worked closely with the editorial staff of the Christian Science Sentinel and The Christian Science Journal on the redesign of both publications.
"We were launched by some excellent information provided by Journal research teams," said editorial specialist Jack Brady, "and through our own exploration of The Mother Church's archives to grasp the voice and the spirit of the founder of these magazines, Mary Baker Eddy
"In a sense, we tried to bring her back even more into the editorial process," he said. "For example, we soon discovered that current issues of the magazine had been overlooking some of Mrs. Eddy's openness to short items. In addition to the articles on Christian Science, there were newspaper and magazine reprints, sermons, letters, jokes, children's material, advertisements.
"As we set out on this task, we felt impelled to get back to more of what Mrs. Eddy had envisioned—not to put editorial handcuffs on the new version, but to go in a direction that did not underestimate Mrs. Eddy's original editorial vision."
Higher level
Mr. Brady emphasized that their own research showed that current readers liked the Journal. They were a satisfied audience. So, it wasn't a case of solving problems through redesign, but taking a "very fine publication up to a higher level of achievement." He felt their task as consultants was to help reformulate— not reposition—a publication that was "very much on target for its audience" but needed a "look and an editorial approach more contemporary" than it had been, which would help it reach an even wider audience.
"I think you'll see that the spirit and content and the overall intent are unchanged in the 'new 'Journal," he continued. "I think the magazine is simply doing a better job of presenting them. The magazine's visual palette has been broadened, attending to an area that was somewhat neglected."
Brady said that as they looked at the project as a whole, they felt the Sentinel is "more topical, more newsy, more journalistic and timely" than the Journal. While the Journal certainly addresses timely issues, it "endeavors to be timeless."
"For the person newly interested in Christian Science, the Sentinel may appear more entry level than the Journal," suggested Greg Paul. "And, being entry level ourselves, we soon identified the unique features of each magazine."
"The magazines work together," added Brady. "There's a little bit of overlap." He pointed out that the two magazines are part of the same family but have distinct purposes.
"The spirit and
the overall intent
are unchanged. "
Need for understanding
"Usually in my daily work on other publications, I can move freely from one to another," said Mr. Paul. "It's easy to go with what's flashy and splashy. All you've got to do is visit the newsstands or turn on your television and see what's working now . . . what's creating instant reaction . . . what sells. But to get to the deeper levels required by this assignment—to get a true sense of it and understand it—demanded much more preparation and study.
"Unlike many other publications, which tend to be keenly competitive, this was not about semantics or one-upmanship or intellectual gameplay. This was about a mission and a message with every bit as much intellectual energy as the other publications I design, but with a radically different intent.
"One key to the Journal's design was going through the Sentinel first," continued Paul. "I'm glad we did it that way. It taught me a whole lot about Christian Science. Then, having established the Journal's kinship with the Sentinel, we strove to improve the Journal's visual presentation and come up with an orderly rethinking that respected the realities of production and efficiency.
"We soon found that we were working to improve a well-positioned and integrated publication that had room to be a little tidier, better paced, better packaged. And good as the Journal has been, I do think it's better now. The real test will be: Are more people going to read it? and, Will the people who already read it spend more time reading it?"
Collaborative effort
As the project progressed, Greg Paul worked more closely with the Journal's art director, Danis Mutchler. "Layouts and revisions went back and forth," she told us, "fine-tuning this, fine-tuning that—until everyone was pleased with them. It was a collaborative effort we both really appreciated—and I learned a lot from it.
"I see myself as one of the intermediaries between writers' healings or insights and readers who come to the Journal to benefit from those experiences. My work is to help carry that message along to the readers as effectively as possible. Harmony of the whole is always the goal.
"I care for the visual aspects of the magazine—from working with typesetter Gillian Litchfield to polish each page layout, to gathering appropriate images for each issue, and ensuring that all the elements will be well reproduced in print.
"Of course, working with beautiful images is the really fun part," continued Danis, "but hard fun, you might say, because it can take a lot of searching to find inspired images that really support the ideas and character of an article. None of the art is there just to be pretty.
"I see the artwork as evidence of the 'the unfolding of spiritual ideas and their identities' somewhere between the 'infinitesimal' and 'infinity,' as Mrs. Eddy describes creation on page 503 of Science and Health. And this can appear in almost any style or medium.
"I'm always praying to be led to the right images. The artwork is meant to be an added blessing to the reader—spiritually enriching, or witty, or whatever. I search the Internet for artists' sites, look through art and photography books, and keep my eye on galleries. Sometimes readers send us slides of their professional, gallery-quality work, and we're hoping more readers will contribute in this way."
Design and typeface
All the design work and most of the spot drawings are done on a Macintosh. Danis uses an electronic tablet for drawing straight into the computer in what she described as a "fairly natural, spontaneous" way. "Working on a computer is so forgiving," she added with a smile. "You can erase mistakes over and over, and it never smudges!"
In response to our questions about typeface, Danis explained: "I had really loved the gentle warmth of the typeface we'd been using for the past several years, but we'd had complaints about its readability. So we made sure that the new design format retained some of that grace and fluidity, but in a different way. Of course, the new typefaces Greg proposed are also beautiful—and more legible.
"This was about
a mission
and a message. "
"Another goal of the redesign was to express more of the individuality of each article. In the past, most of the articles looked quite alike. Now, there's more flexibility in designing the titles to indicate the 'feel' of each article."
"This is much more subtle than in the Sentinel, which is an enthusiastic, informal conversation with friends about the things of the Spirit and how they relate to our lives," explained Sentinel art director Curt Snider. "We try to make the Sentinel user-friendly, drawing people in to read, and encouraging spontaneous sharing with anyone, anywhere. So our graphic design naturally reflects this approach."
Island of serenity
"For us as consultants," concluded Greg Paul, "the redesign of the Journal was an especially fresh assignment. We enjoy all the projects we work on—but their messages are cut and dried, and you've succeeded if you deliver that message in a way that's clear and attractive. The jobs don't require much more thought than that.
"Here, although it's hard to measure, we had to keep asking ourselves, 'Are we achieving the right level of deep thought through the way we are presenting these ideas? Are we in some way affecting people's inner lives?'
"Eventually this project became like an island of serenity and contemplation in our working day—without ever becoming motionless! It caused us to think, to use spiritual muscles that don't get that much of a workout on other design projects. That was the new, refreshing part for both of us—and a big part of the joy."
