For most of our first three decades as a newsweekly, Maclean's followed a formula pioneered by Time magazine. Our covers and our inside pages looked a lot like Time. Our news values, story choices, and our journalistic tone took their cues from Time. We developed our own version of Time's man of the year and, like Time, made Jesus our Easter cover. All went reasonably well until about two years ago, when we noticed the Time model wasn't even working for Time anymore. Its franchise was shrinking. We decided to change course.

In concert with Maclean's centenary in November 2005, we waved goodbye to news rehashes, and cut back on lifestyle and service journalism. We committed ourselves to forward-looking coverage of news and current affairs. Our national, world, and business sections expanded. We strengthened the magazine's own voice with weekly editorials and consistently witty and provocative covers. We introduced a bevy of compelling new columnists, including Mark Steyn and Scott Feschuk. We also redesigned our inside pages, limiting the size of pictures and headlines in order to increase the total amount of reading material in every issue(we now offer 50 per cent more text and twice as many stories each week). And we set aside our rainbows of coloured type to concentrate on traditional news colours: black, white, red and yellow.

We made two other changes of particular note. Our covers were reconfigured with four boxes at the top, each containing a little headline and sometimes a photo. The boxes alert readers to the full range and compelling nature of the contents of the new Maclean's. Finally, we moved our weekly date of publication from Monday(Time's traditional day)to Thursday, providing our audience with a highly relevant current affairs magazine at the end of the week and before the weekend -- a more convenient time to read.

All of these moves paid immediate dividends. We quickly arrested a long-term circulation decline and almost doubled our newsstand sales. Internal surveys show record high levels of customer satisfaction, and we were named Canada's magazine of the year at the 2006 National Magazine Awards. We even attracted the notice of executives at Time Inc., and a bundle of back issues was dispatched to New York in February 2006.

We had just settled into our new path when Time announced with great fanfare its own redesign. It dropped in our mailbox last week. Its editor claims a renewed emphasis on news and current affairs. He introduces new columnists and promises more point of view. The new design allows for more text, smaller pictures and headlines. It features black, white, red, yellow type. There are boxes at the top of the cover with headlines and pictures. There are more(efforts at)humour and a(mildly)edgier tone overall. The magazine has also changed its weekly date of publication from Monday to Thursday.

Time wrote a special feature on all the deep, original thinking and high-priced design expertise that contributed to its new look. We have to admit, our first impulse was to call foul. Then we remembered we kind of owe Time for all the years we followed its lead. It also occurred to us that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So, after all that, we've simply decided to blush.

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