Case Studies
Title: Stop Watch
Client: National Association of Truck Stop Operators (NATSO)
Publisher: Parthenon Publishing
Circulation: 3,000
Frequency: Bimonthly
Target: NATSO Membership
Client Objectives: Breaking through the piles of trade magazines and industry publications that were also making their way to members' inboxes by redesigning Stop Watch, the official magazine of NATSO.
Execution: Parthenon Publishing took on the task of redesigning Stop Watch with three goals in mind.
- Brand the publication as a unique benefit of membership in NATSO.
- Make the magazine break through the clutter.
- Match the design to the sophistication of the organization.
First, Parthenon designed a new, bold masthead for the magazine. Previously, the magazine emphasized the initials SW in the masthead, with the title Stop Watch functioning as a subhead.
Parthenon wanted to clearly brand the magazine title Stop Watch. A sans serif font on a black background for a clean, eye-catching look that immediately established the magazine's “I-mean-business” content.
Prior to the redesign, the covers relied on typography to convey the subject of the main feature article. Parthenon chose high-impact, journalistic photos paired with attention-grabbing cover lines to draw readers in to the magazine.
The changes to the cover offered an immediate clue to what readers would find inside. The editorial focus remained the same, but Parthenon organized the contents into a standard schematic, giving readers a template that let them know what to expect when they opened the magazine.
Column headings were designed to reinforce the masthead design, giving the magazine a cohesiveness and ease of navigation that didn't exist before. Additional graphics — a silhouette for the Driver's Perspective column, a bulls-eye for the Selling Points column — add interest and distinction to regular pages.
News photos and custom-produced photography that complement the copy — along with pull-quotes, information boxes, and such graphic elements as borders and end dots — boost the magazine's readability. The new design was a dramatic departure from the original, with utility figuring into each decision as much as aesthetics.
Results: The results were dramatic. Unsolicited comments from members came in complimenting the magazine. They said they were getting a brand new magazine, and though the content didn't change significantly, the way it was delivered pulled members in to really read and absorb it. In addition, the design, combined with Parthenon's advertising sales management strategy, dramatically increased revenue beginning with the first issue. In 2007, the first full year of Parthenon's publishing and sales efforts, ad revenue increased 41 percent from 2006.
Due to the magazine's success, NATSO has called on Parthenon to handle many of its member communications, including member directory, grassroots email and event promotion and registration.
