• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, February 18, 2011

There seems to be a deep-seated belief in the consumer magazine industry that a new look can give a beleaguered publication a new lease on life -- but the evidence suggests that superficial (or even more substantial) redesigns actually have little impact on circulation or ad sales.

That's not stopping Time and Newsweek from trotting out redesigns in the hopes of reversing multi-year declines. Time managing editor Richard Stengel told readers that the magazine has added an "economy page and a photo spread; moved 10 Questions to the back page; and created one large section called "The Culture," which combines the old Life and Arts sections.

This is actually the second redesign under Stengel: the first, in March 2007, repositioned it as a journal of news analysis, opinion and commentary, but failed to avert ad page declines of 6.9% in 2007, 19% in 2008, and 17.4% in 2009. Turning to circulation, between the second half of 2006 and the second half of 2010 total newsstand sales fell 25% to 89,592, while subs fell 11.5% to 3,213,374.

Newsweek is said to be preparing a major redesign under the leadership of new editor Tina Brown, set to debut in March. True, the redesign is partly intended to incorporate content from The Daily Beast Web site, which recently completed its merger with Newsweek after months of fitful negotiations. But some kind of makeover was probably inevitable following the struggling magazine's acquisition by stereo magnate Sidney Harman last year.

Both newsweeklies could use a shot in the arm.

Newsweek ended 2010 with ad pages down 19.8% to 896, according to the Publishers Information Bureau, while total paid subs declined 25.4% to 1,423,666, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Over the same period, Time saw ad pages slip 2.9% to 1,406, as paid subs declined 3.2% to 3,109,161. But as noted, the recent history of magazine redesigns doesn't provide much reason to believe these revamps will produce lasting improvements in terms of readership or advertising.

More recently, in March 2010, Fortune magazine got a major redesign, including new sections, graphics and format, but the venerable business title ended the year with ad pages basically flat with a 1% increase to 1,539, according to the PIB. On the circulation front, Fortune saw paid subs fall 3.5% to 798,690 in the second half of 2010 compared to the second half of 2009, according to the ABC; newsstand sales did increase 9% to 27,608.

Other magazine categories, such as sports and shelter, have tried to redo their images.

In 2002, corporate bosses announced the retirement of Sports Illustrated's longtime editor Bill Colson and a redesign to be led by newcomer Terry McDonell, previously editor in chief of Wenner Media's Us Weekly. In the face of competition from the newly launched ESPN Magazine, McDonell was tasked with making SI younger and hipper, including shorter, more opinionated articles -- and by most accounts, he succeeded. But ABC recorded fairly consistent year-over-year drops in newsstand sales, which fell 59% from an average 119,429 in June 2003 to 49,264 in December 2010.

Martha Stewart Living got a redesign back in March 2009, but the new look availed it little in the midst of a steep economic downturn: Ad pages fell 17.5% in 2009, while on the circ front total paid subs increased 7% to 1,822,233 in the second half of 2009, as newsstand sales tumbled 17.6% to 269,375 per ABC.