I have finally closed the back cover of the “Snow Days” issue of Yankee Magazine after finding the time to sit down, take the magazine with it’s new layout in hand and read it cover to cover in one sitting. I realize this probably should have been done quite a few weeks ago but time and tide wait for no one and this was actually the first opportunity that I’ve had available for a decent sit down and read type session and the time to properly look over the new, larger layout the folks at Yankee have turned out. So with a cup of coffee by my side and with a bit of trepidation, I turned to the first page.

And at the end I was not disappointed.

With the the biting cold, the warmth of family, the smell of the sea and many other images and sensations swirling about my brain I came away with a sense of completeness that was satisfying indeed. I had opened the first page with that ‘bit of trepidation’ simply due to having lost faith in so many of the other mainstay magazines over the years. Too many of our “old standards” having lost the substance and depth they once had. No character, no depth and all the personality of a “get rich quick” website. I didn’t necessarily feel that Yankee had totally gone in this direction (Mel Allen’s replies to my initial emails being one of the reasons) but I was prepared to come across those dreaded empty spaces where the said content and depth of character just fell away. Fortunately as I said, my fears were unfounded.

I found the new layout and the magazine as a whole as warm and comfortable as sitting in an old New England farmhouse kitchen. The kind with one of those huge old Glenwood “E” six lid stoves sitting right in the middle of it. The navigation as to where to find the content appeared to be well thought out also. “Come right in”, it said, “Make your self ta’ home”. I don’t give out compliments very easily but in a market filled with cheap and shallow, I do feel the new Yankee will stand out bright and clear. A job well thought out and well done.

Meandering over to the Yankee Magazine website I found that the readability issues I had previously brought up concerning size of fonts was well underway to being taken care of starting with the size of the captions in the March/April issue:

Captions: Carefully researched, carefully crafted captions are essential to memorable magazines. Our captions in the January/February issue had great content, but were simply printed in too small a type size. Now the captions are even better, plus they are bigger and bolder. They are meant to be read, and now you will be able to more easily.

I recommend reading the whole Behind The Scenes at Yankee to see all the planned changes and improvements for yourself and I’m anticipating the new issue showing up at my doorstep with much pleasure. It’s good to see one of the old standards survive and grow with all the changes that society has gone through these past several decades and still continue to provide the high quality that made the Yankee so precious to so many readers in the first place.