Editor's Viewpoint
Welcome To Our New Look!
You are holding the premiere issue of a completely transformed Logistics Quarterly (LQ). It doesn’t appear to be the same magazine that we began publishing five years ago. But it is. With so many media and publications competing for our readers attention we felt readers should not be compelled to be less discriminating when they read a business magazine such as LQ. This new presentation of our editorial also affords our readers faster access to the information they need to read.
In celebration of LQ’s fifth year our new creative director has gone beyond recasting the appearance of this magazine from front to back. Our company now offers our customers complete advertising design and planning service. I am pridefully acknowledging that recasting of LQ’s design is not only for civic-minded pro bono purposes. It also shows our dedication to our customers as well as our readers, and an offering of one-stop shopping when it comes to advertising.
This service, as evidenced by two full page color advertisements shown in this issue of this magazine, and in different formats in other business, isn’t new. In fact, it precedes the launch of LQ.
But having access to a new level of graphic expertise is recent. Creative design is often one of the unheralded strengths of a magazine. Two new creative professionals merit special attention here. I feel privileged to have worked on this issue of LQ and recently several ad campaigns with John Grant, a former art director of the Royal Ontario Museum and recipient of numerous awards nationally and internationally, and Leoung O’Young, whose illustrations have been featured on the covers of magazines such Maclean’s and a wide range of other national publications and newspapers. An important advantage of our creative design is related to the three-dimensional format we can use for images to ensure their ease of use in other applications, such as corporate CD presentations and enhancing a company’s presence on the Internet.
When I initially met Leoung we discussed work in another field that pertained to the Internet. Since then we have continued to work in this field together. But we also saw other opportunities in the print media. Leoung naturally introduced me to John Grant, whose preeminent creative design expertise has contributed to other publications, corporations and government bodies, from Imperial Oil to Transport Canada. It’s likely you have also seen Leoung’s illustrative and animation work in movies such as Robo Cop, or commercials for companies such as Braun Canada.
As an editor and publisher who has been involved with the transportation and logistics sector for more than ten years, I believe this team now provides a powerful fulcrum of expertise to launch and maintain successful public relations and advertising campaigns for our clients.
While our format has changed our editorial traditions continue. Since its earliest days LQ has been dedicated to adhering to the mandate of “professionals writing for professionals,” almost as a lapidary script. I believe LQ’s customary focus on people has clearly been enhanced, however, since we began our new role a year ago as a publisher of this magazine for the Canadian Professional Logistic Institute and its members. We have also added outstanding contributors to LQ from leading organizations such as the Canadian Society of Customs Brokers, the Council of Logistics Management, the Canadian Importers Association, and the Supply-Chain Council, as well as others.
I am elated to begin this premiere redesigned issue with a cover article about an association of logistics professionals who present extraordinary opportunities that go beyond dramatically reduced transportation and logistics costs.
These professionals from leading Canadian companies give personal and candid assessments of their association. Clearly, reducing annual costs belies the the primary basis for their membership. So with this story LQ’s tradition of publishing editorial focused on professionals continues. But this issue’s cover story is something of an anomaly as it offers the rich insights of not one but several executives in an interview oriented format.
I am interested in knowing what you think about LQ’s new look.
Fred Moody is the editor/publisher of Logistics Quarterly. fmoody@LQ.ca