Wow – it’s been quite a journey from the moment, several months ago, when I sat down with our art director Paul Mitchell, and we asked ourselves ‘how can we make this magazine better?’
Today, if you’re a subscriber, you get to see the answer – if you’re not, the new mag will be in newsagents on Tuesday, August 24th. Either way, I’m very proud to introduce to you the new-look, redesigned issue of WHAT HI-FI? SOUND AND VISION.
So…why redesign the mag? Informed by a ton of research (and having paid close attention to the feedback we get on the forums), we began with a simple mantra – ‘more and better buying advice’. Over the early, frantic weeks of re-thinking the magazine, this became distilled into a single word: ‘more’.
We now have more words in each review; more depth and context to buying advice; more analysis and opinion in the news stories; more insight into product design and new tech; more jargon explained; more tips and tricks; more system-matching options; more stylish photography and design.
We’ve got more full-page reviews, all of which have our new Need To Know dashboard – with illustrated product dimensions and a concise, useful overview of what the product is and how best to use it. Full-page reviews are also now embellished with hugely improved panels, offering Best For, Living With It, Before You Buy, Top Tip, Did You Know, Hot Topic and Trend Setter advice. The intention is to give more value and information to you, our readers, and to give more context to each and every product we test.
Even better, there’s a wealth of brand new features. In Savvy Shopper we help a reader make the perfect purchase. With Ultimate System Builder we take a single class-leading product and give ALL the good options for system matching. This means we can also recommend more products – for different rooms, uses and genres as well as price-points.
The same is true for the new Best For feature: on this page we celebrate six products that are particularly good for a specific use – this month, Best For the Bedroom.
We’re taking a big step forward: the attempt is to provide YOU with more context, handy tips and useful advice to help you make your home entertainment buying decisions – as well as keeping you fully informed on the ever-evolving world of new technology.
It’s a thrill to be working on it. I hope you enjoy it, too, and feel better served than ever by WHAT HI-FI? SOUND AND VISION – the world’s No.1 home entertainment magazine.
Please let us know what you think: we’ll continue to try and improve the magazine, delivering to you ever more expert, authoritative and accessible buying advice. And don’t forget, the new look issue also features this fantastic competition, in which you could win a Naim UnitiSystem, worth nearly £5500!
I hope you enjoy the new-look WHAT HI-FI? SOUND AND VISION.