Frankly, it was time. The Auto Rental News logo design hadn’t changed since 2001 — in magazine years, the Cretaceous Period. (Before that, the magazine was last fully redesigned in 1991, so yes, we do drag our feet.) In the magazine world, even in the staid domain of business-to-business publications, freshening up your look every five years is recommended. On top of that, we’ve got a new art director on the magazine, and that’s what new art directors do, you know.

So what goes into a redesign?

If editors had their way, the page would be jammed with text, charts and infographics and you’d have to read it with a magnifying glass. If art directors had their way, the article would be written on one of Warhol’s soup cans. Not much info, but what a piece of art! Hopefully, the result is somewhere in between, and in service to you, the reader.

But seriously, folks, a magazine redesign is about updating the look to a more current style while still being in touch with the audience and making the reader experience more enjoyable.  We’ve strived to clean up the presentation by redefining the look of the departments, and implemented other design elements such as breaking off portions of the body copy in easier-to-understand blocks of text. For images, we’re looking to move away from standard headshots by using more dynamic photos that showcase the article topic.

In terms of content, we’ve added a Web Table of Contents to give print readers an idea of what’s going on in the digital domain, including our web-exclusive content on http://www.autorentalnews.com/, and also in social media outlets such as ARN’s LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook portals. (The social media revolution in the b-to-b world is real — we’re seeing the growth, especially in LinkedIn forums. If you’re not there yet, check us out!)

Otherwise, the content of the magazine hasn’t changed. The departments are still the same and can be found in their usual places. However, we’re constantly striving to give you relevant, up-to-date and well-written information. If we ever fail you on this, please let us know — as you have!

For you international readers, or anyone that doesn’t get the print version, this is a good time to mention that you can have the exact version of the magazine, instantly on your desktop, through our digital edition. View the latest edition here.

And so this photo gallery gives you a sneak peek of our fresh new look that will land on your desk in a few weeks. It would have been perfect to match the redesign with our 25th anniversary year, but that’s in 2013. We decided not to wait. We hope it works for you.