{fh30000C0Acorn Publisher
{fb1000000One potentially huge market for Acorn is that of DTP. Having worked in the print industry for a number of years and possessing a degree in Art where I specialised in Printing (on a Fine Art course), I can see the potential that Acorn have before them in their machine and the serious world-class art packages that third party's have developed (for the Arc and more recently the Risc PC). Yes I know there isn't much in the way of advertising and showing the world the beauty of Acorn's machines, which is down to their marketing, (or as some would say, their non-existent policy in this area). Acorn claim they don't have the financial resources for glossy magazines or TV adverts like their PC manufacturing rivals. I believe that a huge investment in media advertising would pay off - putting 'Acorn' on the lips and in the heads of normal/ professional end users.

Having watched computer users at my place of work struggle using CorelDraw and PageMaker on a PC (which incidentally has an obscene 32 meg RAM!) I firmly believe if more users were aware of Acorn's magnificent machines through _advertising_"Regulars.AdverIndex", they would be the ones to shout their demands for them until the PC was a memory! Acorn needs to give it's hardware credibility with the end users. If they don't realise it could be better for them than what they accept as a standard, they will carry on regardless and oblivious.

Anyway, on to the rest of this article. As a _DTP_"Reviews.Apps.Style1" market exists on the Arc, (even if it is only tiny) it's not surprising to see the birth of a magazine dedicated to this area - of course I'm referring to Acorn Publisher produced by Akalat Publishing/ Mike Williams (not the Sounds Riscy one, or his cousin).

Being an interested party myself, I sent for a sample copy before I took the plunge and subscribed for 6 issues - which I haven't done yet because of the reasons noted below. Although Acorn Publisher has lots going for it in all the right areas, I couldn't help feeling it was letting itself down with typographical errors and bad design. In a magazine which includes pedantic articles about the correctness of design, this is rather ironic to say the least!

I also found some of the Editorial and News sections rather vernacular. Although this seemed a friendly approach, it eventually became rather unprofessional.

A further criticism regards the page layout. It is designed as either 2 or 3 columns of left-justified text with a vertical 'margin' on either the left or right of each page - which could/ should accommodate minimal descriptive text (a quote etc.) or a small relevant graphic to remain professional and uncluttered. As this aspect is abused throughout most of the first issue, (but is better in the second) the object of magazine design itself has been defeated; again this is ironic for a magazine about a subject it contradicts at almost every opportunity. The page layout is certainly inconsistent and the abuse of design is evident on many occasions resulting in a cluttered page.

Also certain advertisements seem unconventionally placed within the first few pages, rather than, (as normal) at the back of the magazine. This succeed in breaking up the natural flow of the whole magazine as well as the page(s) which they were placed upon. This common 'problem' of 'natural flow' is mentioned somewhere in this issue two in an article about good design.

Finally, maybe a minor yet very noticeable addition are the logos for the different sections of the magazine, (camera/ scanner/ head/ etc). I personally feel they would look more at home in an amateur newsletter, so seem out of place in what is hoped to become a professional Acorn Publishing magazine. They look as if the were an afterthought and produced in Draw with minimum time and effort.

Considering the potential market for this publication will contain experienced printers/ publishers; some of who will be quite experienced in the design/ production of magazines, they will expect a high level of professionalism if they are to take Acorn Publisher seriously.

However, I gained a lot of pleasure from issue 1, (and more from issue 2) I read and liked very much the Case Study, The Masterclass and the Technical Notes and Queries. I genuinely wish Acorn Publisher all the best for the future and look forward to it becoming an informative quality periodical.

Contact: Akalat (01582) 881614

Price: A yearly subscription is 24.95 for 6 issues (UK). A sample issue can be bought upon request.

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