FRANCE magazine has a brand new look, introduces new sections and columnists and still keeps those in-depth articles that make past issues such useful points of reference. I like it !
As a print and digital subscriber, I've been enjoying the new format for some days now and it's been hard to stay tight-lipped about the changes. The folks @Francemagazine on Twitter have been keeping the new look under wraps until today's official launch date and I wasn't keen to spoil the surprise.
Now that it has hit the shelves, I thought it might be of interest to share what I notice and like about the changes.
What strikes me most is the light, friendly, typeface supplemented in parts by a stylish, cursive font. There's an example of this on the front cover - a sense of adventure. All of the things that I liked about the previous format are still there but revamped and there is a lot of new stuff. This is immediately apparent from the double page contents spread. I much prefer the new look at-a-glance layout with some of the sections headed in French: Joie de Vivre, Bon Appétit and La Culture.
Among the new columnists are Sir Terry Wogan, who writes bi-monthly, starting this issue with a piece from his holiday home in the Gers and Clotilde Dusoulier of the food blog chocolateandzucchini who gives advice on cooking the foodstuffs we bring back from our visits to France.
One of my favourite columns was Carole Drinkwater's Postcard from Provence; it too gets a new look as a series of Vignettes, starting this month with Bruno the goat farmer - Carole's text is illustrated by newspaper cartoonist, Richard Cole.
Another of my favourite sections is Actualités, brilliant for keeping up to speed with what's happening in France. Just comparing the layout and style of the Actualités sections in the September and October issues really shows how much the look has changed. Same goes for a comparison of the Language sections where the new format sees Language and Language Games featuring under La Culture.
There is so much more that could be said.... that the new style seems to allow even more information to be included than before and that the format also transfers very well to the digital edition.... but get your copy and check it out for yourself.
Congratulations to editor, Carolyn Boyd and the editorial team - brilliant, the new look is great
and I'm glad to see we still have the escargot to endpoint the articles.