I made the mistake and let myself get carried away by recommendation of Veerle, a decent designer I would say, and subscribed to the Layers Magazine e-version for some 30$ a year. First of all, I did not receive any order confirmation, which is really unprofessional when you give someone your credit card number and allow them to charge it for 30$ – then I mailed them asking if they had received my subscription for the international e-version Layers Magazine. An employee replied that they were sorry but did not receive anything. Four days later I did receive a confirmation (a bit pathetic I find) – now today I got the first copy of Layers Magazine and I must say I am shocked.
First of all, the email said that the Magazine was being published six times over the year. That is one magazine every two months?
Most of the articles are contributions by well-accredited designers such as Veerle from Belgium, who has been in the business since 1992 – then they drop in some reviews and miscellaneous tips and tricks that you can get from any cheap tutorial site or tech-review page.
Where is the added value?!
Half of the magazine (it has some 110 pages) is advertisements, so you pay 30$ a year for a magazine that is published every two months that is filled with ads, ads, ads. (UPDATE: I counted: 51 full pages of ads!) I must say those ads are really targeted and interesting to the audience, but still that is way too much for my taste. I will not pro-long my subscription and find it stumbling that people like Veerle recommend the magazine so highly (e.g. under every post). Of course, her tutorials (which are great!) are published there, but still the Layers Magazine SUCKS as for the reasons given above.
I cannot recommend Layers Magazine
P.S. The Zinio delivery manager is very annoying and looks like spyware, I don’t trust it. However I can imagine that Layers Magazine does not want to send around PDF files directly (else people would upload them to their blogs and sites bluntly).
If you want to waste some money you might be interested in subscribing to one of the worst paid e-zines I have read and visit Layers Magazine here at www.layersmagazine.com
I can recommend the Before and After Magazine, which is short, concise and to the point. Nine to Fifteen pages, no advertisements, sources included and cheap (costs 24$ which is like 16Euro for 32 articles that really help you out)
BA Magazine offers even free samples of articles for PDF download: free of charge, high quality! Link 1 | Link 2 – and no I do not work for them or am related or anything, I am just stating my honest opinion and review here)
Tags: 2008, e-zine, Layers Magazine, review, veerle
January 28th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
It’s nice to know that, here in Mexico, we don’t have magazines such as Layers, but we do have magazines, that make everyone think is a designer, so it’s a raw war, avoiding those “pseudo-designers” who charge 70% or less from prices. It’s a nice blog of yours, I’ll be using one of your themes, and of course promoting you among my designer friends.
January 29th, 2008 at 10:48 am
hey visual mercenary thanks for your comment and great seeing you here at h4×3d.com!
thanks for the kudos and keep me posted about what theme you decide on- I will be releasing some new ones soon-ish.
September 4th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Thanks for the non-recommendation. I was considering subscribing based on one issue I really liked. It’s less expensive than Advanced Photoshop because i’m in the US, but now I will only buy issues which I preview and like at a store. Speaking of magazines the Computer Arts magazine also lowered their value with more ads.
December 27th, 2008 at 3:14 am
Thank you for the kind review. We believe that graphic design that shows well must also be defined well. Our hope is that our reader’s see, follow, and then transfer the principles to their designs. Regards. Gaye McWade, Associate Publisher, Before & After magazine.
December 30th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Gaye, no need to thank me for my honest opinion, once I have more time (time off from uni) I will re-view the BA mag again, always loved the articles.
February 7th, 2009 at 8:54 am
It is refreshing to see an honest review. I whole heartedly agree. That also goes for thier other advert vehicle – Photoshop User. They are all nothing more then a soap box for the ‘Golden Boys’ to sell their own wares, other than a bunch of recycled freebie tuts from the net. Nothing much new or inspiring. I too LOVED the BA magazine – until Istock seemed to get involved with it and the price near doubled…a coincidence perhaps…but that is when my sub ended and I’ve never renewed since – although I learned a lot form all the ones I had up until then.
February 8th, 2009 at 12:01 am
much appreciate your comment lou,
I didnt know BA got taken over by istock, so I cannot really judge on that, however I got really annoyed by layers magazine who sent me like 6 mails after my subscription had expired asking me to pro-long.
February 8th, 2009 at 2:37 am
Lou and jez, Before & After has not been “taken over” by iStockphoto; it is independent, as it has always been. Also, its $24 subscription price has never been lower. iStockphoto is a valuable marketing partner for us, as we are to them.
February 8th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
thanks john for the clarification,
as I said I didnt know anything that which is why I said I cannot judge on that.
in addition, gaye replied via mail:
Not true! Not Layers either. We’re still independent but will give permission for some articles to be available for specificied others.
Regards.
Gaye McWade, Associate Publisher
Before & After Magazine.
January 2nd, 2010 at 5:42 am
Well I love Before & After and enjoy Layers as well. I subscribed after buying at mag racks and before I subscribed I knew what I was buying. The ads are too much I agree, but so many mags are folding and need the extra revenue. The point is that there are somegreat advice in Layers but everyone must judge for themselves.
Customer service is customer service. Mistakes are made by everyone. I’m sure you’ve made mistakes before too. I know I have. A lot. But don’t let the problem one might encounter with non-customer service steer you wrong. There is great material inside the mag.
Find out for yourselves.
I must partially agree with the zine reader. I much rather have a simple PDF for online downloads. It’s very easy to use a PDF. But of course the copyright issues prevail.
Pease to all and let’s keep design alive and well.
Robert
January 13th, 2010 at 6:21 am
thanks for your detailed comment robert!