Installation has a new name – but the changes we’ve made go further than the masthead.Editor Paddy Baker explains.
As of the June 2012 issue, we have a new name: Installation. Why have we dropped ‘Europe’ from our name (and our web address)? For the simple reason that it was limiting us. We’ve carried stories from beyond the continent of Europe for some time – for instance, the Middle East has been a key focus for many years. But for as long as I have been editing the title, I’ve had to turn away stories, regardless of quality, simply because they came from the wrong part of the world – or else I had to find excuses to include them. That is no longer the case. While I expect that European stories will continue to predominate, we are now reporting on installations, market developments and products that we believe will interest the industry, regardless of where they originate.
Related to this is the fact that online media and communications are rapidly making geographical boundaries irrelevant. For instance, tracking the clicks from our weekly newsletter shows strong interest from the US, where we’ve never actively sought readers. As another example, I recently had a conversation about digital editions with an Icelander who lives in the US but who had just started working for a German company… Magazine digital editions can cross the globe far more quickly than the print edition, and enable us to extend our reach far beyond our traditional print subscribers. Our digital edition – whether accessed on a browser or via our new iPad Newsstand app – is now a subscribable entity, so we have been able to include within our circulation those who read the magazine online, alongside print readers. Incidentally, our digital editions are now video-enabled – another way that we’re extending the magazine beyond the printed page.
Apart from the geographical changes, there’s more that’s new within these pages. Most obviously, we have a new look. Following the example of our stablemates PSNEurope and TVBEurope, this magazine has a brighter, livelier, more contemporary feel. (Sexy? Maybe, but we’ve only just met…) I’d like to thank Adam Butler, our head of design, for the fantastic work he’s done to give life to the new Installation.
In addition, our online brand extensions are now also featured in print. So this issue has summaries of recent stories from what’s now called Installation Residential, and from our Technology For Architects newsletter, and we’ll be having more coverage of these sectors in the magazine over the coming months.
We’ve timed the relaunch to coincide with the InfoComm show, and we will be bringing large numbers of copies to that event. So whether you’re reading these words in Las Vegas or your home town, in your office or on the move, on paper or on a screen, I hope you’ll enjoy this issue of Installation. And I’d welcome any comments you may have about our new look and direction.
