NZ Gardener grows

AUCKLAND, Monday: NZ Gardener magazine is celebrating 77 remarkable years by debuting (yesterday) a fresh new look in a “bumper” September issue. Ed Jo McCarroll says pagination for the issue has already increased by an extra 16 pages due to the strong advertiser demand.

“This was both a design revamp – looking at the nuts and bolts like font choices and how we present captions, but also widening our remit to include new regular pieces.”

“There is such a surge of interest in gardening right now,” she says. “People have been spending more time in their homes and gardens, and really enjoying taking the time to – literally – stop and smell the roses.

“Our aim was a refresh of the look and feel of the magazine; so this was both a design revamp looking at the nuts and bolts like font choices and how we present captions, but also widening our remit to include regular pieces on topics like indoor plants, native biodiversity and gardening by the maramataka which we knew were of interest to gardeners who might not previously have felt like NZ Gardener was the magazine for them.

“The redesign means the magazine is cleaner and less cluttered, we’re able to share more photos of the gardens we feature so the reader feels truly immersed in the space, and run longer stories that go into greater depth too.

“NZ Gardener is the country’s oldest continuously published magazine, with the first issue going on sale in September 1944.”

“We’ve introduced short author bios, which bring home to our audience that the contributors who help us make NZ Gardener are among the most knowledgeable horticulturalists in New Zealand.

“And we’ve introduced Kainaga Māra to our masthead which means gardener, to reflect the fact that we entirely and uniquely of New Zealand – homegrown you might say.”

“Our retail and subscription sales are tracking upwards strongly.

“So our redesign is not just about giving the magazine a cleaner and more stylish look, it’s also a chance to introduce some new voices and different kinds of stories to our lineup to ensure we’re delivering what our audience is looking for.

“At the same time we are also transitioning our free weekly ezine Get Growing onto a more user-friendly platform.”

NZ Gardener is the country’s oldest continuously published magazine, with the first issue going on sale in September 1944.

NZ Gardener‘s art director Sarah Scully and I worked closely with freelance designer Olivia Tuck but the whole NZ Gardener team were involved in the process.

CREDITS

Freelance designer: Olivia Tuck
NZ Gardener art director: Sarah Scully
Editor: Jo McCarroll and the NZ Gardener team
Comms: Melissa Dobson (Stuff)

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