My work on the Met Home cover, December 2008
It is sad that in our industry, where publications are the inspiration and the platform from which we can show our work and worth, top quality magazines keep closing. To me the closing of Met Home feels like a personal loss. Editor-in-Chief Donna Warner is a great friend and a really special lady and Linda O’Keeffe, the editor that I most worked with at the publication, is somebody who is great fun to work with as a photographer and an editor who really allowed my work to shine.
You know, we think that the economy only affects us in our work and in our capability of getting clients, but here is one more affect of how it keeps eroding our capabilities to expand our exposure and expand our possibilities of getting work. We’re basically left with five national magazines in which to showcase our work and it is a sad state of affairs, which creates a situation where more demands are made on us of what these magazines want to show, which affects how we choose to design spaces, which affects the working relationship where magazines can become demanding and force us to go through the eye of the needle to be able to appear on their pages.
The conditions that we as designers have to adhere to in order to appear in their pages, gives us no recourse but to succumb and adjust, in some cases our design and in other how we choose to represent our work, and in turn affect how people view the work, the trends that they see coming down the pipe and the sense of what is the state of design. (If more magazines are traditional, more traditional work will appear which will give the impression that traditional is the direction of design.) Nationally, only Elle Décor is left out on the marketplace, to show contemporary work that speaks of clean, simple design. We’re lucky in a city like New York where magazines like NY Spaces give us another venue of exposure.
The closing of Met Home is a great loss to our industry.
Crossing Boundaries
Learning to See
Lifting the Curtain on Design
God's Love We Deliver
Publicolor
Remember Haiti
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VW Home by Vicente Wolf
www.vicentewolf.com
#1 by Deborah Milne on November 10, 2009 - 12:08 pm
Well Said Vicente, well said. I’ve been a faithful reader for 30 wonderful years. It’s like a loss of a beloved friend. Digital magazines will never replace the traditional periodical. Call me old fashioned. I love going to the mailbox and a cherished magazine has arrived. Makes my day.
Here’s to happier times ahead ~ Deborah
#2 by Faith Sheridan on November 10, 2009 - 12:11 pm
You’ve started a great conversation, Vinente. I see the decline in local mags too as they struggle for ad revenue. Seems as if they become very ‘safe’ and repeat earlier themes perceived as successful. The same designers appear over and over and content is diluted. Not to mention that issues are decreased too.
It is sad for all.
Faith
#3 by Stephanie Weeks on November 10, 2009 - 12:21 pm
Very sad day indeed. I feel like it’s the “Wal-Mart” effect. Mom and Pop businesses suffering because you can get it cheaper at Wal-Mart and now people can look online for their home decor content. Looking at a screen it not the same thing as holding a beautiful magazine with glossy pictures. Next thing you know people will stop buying books! I can imagine reading a novel online…wrong on so many levels.
#4 by Alicia Friedmann on November 10, 2009 - 12:31 pm
This is terrible news!
Met Home is my favorite design magazine!
I have been developing my design business in hopes of making it into this publication some day! I totally agree with all you have stated above.
Alicia
Alicia Friedmann Interior Design, LLC
#5 by stacystyle on November 10, 2009 - 12:40 pm
I am crushed that so many magazines that I turn to for work and inspiration are folding. I’ve been in the magazine industry for over a decade and each year am asked to travel and produce photo shoots more cheaply. In the past year some of the magazines that hire me to style photo shoots have stopped paying for any expenses at all (i.e. mileage, hotel, meals). Magazine companies that are publicly traded have guaranteed their shareholders continued growth. In order for them to maintain that trajectory they must cut costs or increase ad revenue. Ad sales have continued to drop so cuts come in editorial staff, numbers of photo shoots, and pay cuts (one magazine group cut my pay 20% last year).
I was told today that Metropolitan Home lost $4 million last year. There’s just no way they could keep going at that rate.
What to do about it though is another question. Old revenue models based on subscriptions don’t cut it. Met Home was selling for $12 a year! Newsstand sales have also slumped significantly. A magazine simply must have the support of the advertising community. That means big ad dollars by cars manufacturers, credit card companies, pharmaceuticals, fashion designers, and national chains.
#6 by margot on November 10, 2009 - 12:55 pm
First, I must say I am very saddened by this news. However, your argument is a bit circuitous. You kind of lost me with the notion that somehow the magazines will demand a certain kind of work — as if the editors are dictating the style. A magazine editor must deliver what the advertisers want to buy into and the readers want to see – in that order. It’s not a conspiracy against contemporary or edgy design. It’s the flawed business model of the magazine business — readers may want something, but if those readers are of no interest to the advertisers with the money to spend on print ads, then the mag dies. In tough times, the masses rule – mags that aren’t No. 1 in appealing to the largest number of possible advertisers and readers die. Harsh truth. The idea that a designer should alter his or her design to suit a magazine seems to do the client a disservice. After all, the client is paying the bills, not the mag. Just like mags need to come up with alternate revenue streams other than ads, designers may need to come up with new methods of showcasing and promoting their work. Some, like you, are succeeding in this already. Still, sad for those of us who like to see variety of design in print.
#7 by Karena on November 10, 2009 - 1:13 pm
It is sad, however this is now the internet and blogging age, So I think we all have to explore new ways of marketing our business and talents. Elle Decor is my bible so I cross my fingers!
#8 by Jocelyn Hutt on November 10, 2009 - 1:50 pm
When House & Garden magazine folded after 100 yrs +, those of us in the industry knew that a true sea change was upon us. July’s issue of Arch Digest was its smallest – though they seem to be holding steady right now. Regional magazines continue to hold on – perhaps by their fingernails..we don’t quite know. What we DO know is that people are using the web more and more (witness the number of design blogs), and the desire of those interested in the home design field for beautiful images has not diminished…only the way they are delivered is different. Those publications that figure out how to deliver meaningful content to their readers in the internet space will win. There will be some missteps along the way – but we’ll get there. And hopefully all the creative people involved in the now defunct magazines will find homes elsewhere, doing what they love to do.
Jocelyn Hutt
former Editor in Chief, homeportfolio.com
Consultant to the Boston Society of Architects.
#9 by m elissa lee on November 10, 2009 - 2:04 pm
Dear Vicente,
My biggest addiction is magazines of all kinds including design mags!!! I love the french design mag as they seem to have less “let’s make this a perfect room” look to them. I think it’s time for a magazine that has less styling done to it and more personality of the designer or home owners…
I do agree with Margot that maybe it’s time for an alternative way to showcase talent!!!
I would even say perhaps you take advantage of your blog and start your own images via on line magazine of your work and perhaps other that resonate with you…
I would be first in line to even pay for a year of that!!!!
xxoo
Melissa
#10 by Bette on November 10, 2009 - 2:32 pm
Vincente,
This is the reality of design. Burn down to ash level with old and rebuild new just like a building. It’s time to gather the lessons from design and architecture and think outside the magazine pages. Start a blog catalog/network with all kinds of design/art/photography/architecture fresh from the installation locations.
Using our knowledge, tools, experience and passion for invention it’s time to Create Something New! Get that fire in your belly about this rare opportunity to Reinvent the description of what design is today and not what it was yesterday.
Bette
#11 by donnaby on November 10, 2009 - 3:04 pm
It’s sad that so many of our beloved magazines must shut their doors. I have always loved to dogear a good idea and revisit when in need of inspiration and it just doesn’t seem the same online.
On the upside–perhaps the sales of design books of our favorite designers(!!) will increase so we may still have the pleasure of dreaming while turning page after page.
#12 by Newell on November 10, 2009 - 8:04 pm
Vicente, It’s disappointing that you and others posting here think that we in the magazine publishing business manipulate designers and are in turn manipulated by our advertisers. It’s simply not true. We put together every issue based on the reporting of what we see happening in the world. And we’re hoping to tap into reader numbers (number of magazines bought) that in turn attracts advertisers who want to reach them. It’s a little more complicated, but the magazines that are closing are WAY down in magazine sales on the newsstands (translates as losing readers) followed by advertisers who can’t justify spending on those falling numbers…but again it’s a little different and more complicated in every case. As you know, I started my career at Met Home 25 years ago and I have friends there today…so I sad to see them go. Same for HG. And although I never worked at Domino, I had many friends who worked hard to make it work as a business. We’re living through a very interesting time of change in communicatios. I think it’s just starting, but I also see a future for magazines…along with all the other brilliant digital and electronic mediums we have to enjoy today.
-Newell-
House Beautiful
#13 by LIBERTY POST EDITOR on November 10, 2009 - 10:20 pm
Now is the time for Designers to dig down deep to stand their ground in authenticity. We must draw the line and say ‘NO’, we will not compromise our creative integrity. Magazines need to showcase ‘real true honest’ spaces. They owe it to their readers, the industry and future creatives. I too am so sad by this announcement. This magazine was a brilliant star. The internet is our addiction and our poison Vicente. What are we all to do?
#14 by Max T on November 10, 2009 - 10:54 pm
I’m so very saddened by this piece of news. I’ve only been reading Met Home for the past couple of years but it has consistently been one of my “Must-buys” at the newstand. Here in Singapore, we are very lucky to get plenty of international ID mags to feed my addiction and
spotting a new issue of Met Home on the rack always brings some excitement to my day!
The closing of Met Home feels like the passing of a good friend/companion……something feels empty inside, somehow………sigh……..
#15 by Vicente on November 11, 2009 - 10:25 am
Margot, there is a separation between advertising and editorial. In most magazines it’s a separation of church and state. It has to do with the principals of the magazine. If it’s a traditional magazine, it will only publish traditional spaces, and a contemporary designer – as I mentioned in the post – is limited now by the amount of publications that could show his work. It doesn’t mean that if a contemporary client comes in you’re going to do a traditional design, but one’s mentality starts to adjust to the venues that are out there. Clients, many times, are open to different approaches to situations, so you start to, maybe even unconsciously, start to adjust. The client is the ultimate person you work for, but the creativity is coming from your mind and we all get influenced by trends in general – whether you’re in fashion, interiors or fine arts.
#16 by Vicente on November 11, 2009 - 10:37 am
Newell – I never said that the magazine was led by the advertisers, as I’m very aware of the separation between church and state. And I understand, as a business person, the bottom line. But I can’t fail to feel, as a creative person, that the reduction of publications reduces the possibilities of exposure. That is not to say that ones work cannot appear in all of these magazines, but to be a successful magazine, you have to have a very clear brand personality, and hence, the designer’s work has to fit into what that image is – whether it is a very minimal magazine or a more traditionally oriented publication. And it doesn’t mean that the editors of those magazines won’t do a mixed bag of different points of views, but it is still upsetting, without thinking of the bottom line, to see friends and publications that have been important in one’s career as a mode of inspiration, like House & Garden, Met Home or even Domino, to leave the marketplace. We are in tough times, I think everybody is aware of it and we all are feeling it at different degrees, but it can’t stop me from missing from old friends.
#17 by margot on November 11, 2009 - 4:47 pm
Vicente, your point is well taken about a designer’s mentality adjusting to the venues for publication. As long as client and designer are pleased with the results, then it shouldn’t be a problem to tweak here and there to fit a magazine’s editorial mandate. It’s a win, win, win, I say!
As for the whole church-state thing – I am well-versed in this. I’ve been a magazine journalist in Canada for 19 years. Yes, and editor’s job is to survey the market, filter and deliver great content to readers, whose eyes are then delivered back to advertisers. However, advertisers aren’t as attracted to magazine readers as they once were. The business model fails when the readers or the environment (the edit mandate) ceases to be attractive to advertisers with money to spend on print, or when advertisers decide to reach these people through media other than print. These are the 2 main challenges facing magazine publishing. Oh, then there’s the wild card: where a giant corp may simply decide to kill certain books as sacrificial lambs in order to prop up other brands they see as having more future earning potential. There’s a lot of that going on too!
We all love the luxury of the printed page and the colour and the tactile experience. However, one of the most sage observations I’ve read on this topic was made by Stephen Drucker at a conference this year. He said: “You can’t get hung up on paper as a delivery system. When House Beautiful launched in 1896, there wasn’t big, beautiful photography like we have today. It’s not just about paper and photographs. It’s about reading.” This is extracted from an article on foliomag.com. I LOVE IT!
#18 by Gary Nelling on November 11, 2009 - 6:12 pm
I am saddened to read that Metropolitan Home is closing. It was one of my very favorites and a marvelous advocate for modern design in urban, suburban and country settings and across all income strata. Like your other bloggers, I have a tactile fondness for design magazines. I understand from my friends in the print media that magazines and newspapers of all stripes are now challenged, especially in this current deep recession. I think we should not give up hope that a new group of investors may pick up the Met Home artistic flag and make it a financial success as well. I understand that retailers who serve affluent customers like Nordstrom and Coach are doing well in the recent quarter and perhaps that will carry over to design publications as well, though it may be my wishful thinking.
I thought that House and Garden was a terrific magazine from the mid-1970s through mid-or-late-1980s when I believe it lost its focus on bringing the reader inside the spaces it featured and the design process that gave them form. It closed and re-opened once with different image changes before and after. I was sad but not surprised when it closed a few years ago. I think Veranda has grown into a magazine of design substance that features a spectrum of modern to traditional design, though I wasn’t reading it until 3 or 4 years ago so I’m not sure of its original focus. Some magazines may emerge while others recede. I know that these changes involved personal pain for friends of yours and the other bloggers and I don’t discount that one bit.
My college-age and young-adult children remind me, however, that their generation looks first and second to on-line publications with print a distant third. Perhaps we all need to adjust to this new reality. Your web site is stunning, by the way!
I think we who are in the design professions are fortunate to have some control over our own destinies and be able to re-invent ourselves for the times to some degree without giving up our core values, unlike so many in the 10% unemployed who may have more limited prospects. I was truly scared last year as the retail and investment banks and insurers collapsed, but I have been impressed by the way our government salvaged the remaining ones and the way US business reorganized itself. Time will tell how long it takes for Main Street to heal with less help, but I think in time we will all be fine.
#19 by andrea blanch on November 15, 2009 - 1:34 pm
Editor At Large might just be the answer for designers to be
noticed & published. The conceit is timely & original, an alternative
to traditional ways of exposing ones work. I hope it succeeds &
wish them the best of luck.
#20 by Cococozy on November 16, 2009 - 8:43 pm
As an interior design blogger, I was very sad to hear about Metropolitan Home. It was one of my favorite magazines and one of the great sources for interior design inspiration for me. I hope though that designers do not get completely despondent…where there is a will, there is a way!
#21 by Paula Grace on November 18, 2009 - 1:04 am
So true. I posted about it myself. I can’t believe it. It was such a high quality magazine. I do dream of being published in a national magazine. I have only been published in regional ones. Fortunately there are wonderful regional ones out there!