First of all kudos to Roger Black et al at Ready-Media for seizing an opportunity to perhaps revolutionize the publishing business. The ramifications of this development and the forces at work in the publishing industry which allowed it to take place are the subjects of this posting.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave somewhere or have been on a two year sabbatical and out of WiFi range, you may have noticed the alarming trend among business owners both large and small to become leaner and more efficient (read profitable) as the economy pulls out of the recession. This has manifested itself primarily in the form of a nasty little phenomenon that I like to call, “Do More With Less.” This is certainly not new in the business world and has been around for a long time. What seems new to me is the trend on the part of business owners to find ways to wrap multiple skills into existing job descriptions. For example, employment ads seeking Administrative Assistant/Receptionist that is also a skilled web developer. Or graphic designers that also can provide administrative support to a busy executive. The list of examples goes on and on.

What does this have to do with using templates in the publishing of newspapers, magazines and their websites? If a publisher is looking for ways to become leaner and more profitable in a time when almost all print media is under siege, then what could make more sense then, “Do More With Less.” Who needs Art Directors and a team of Designers when perhaps as few as one or two individuals who can use Adobe’s InDesign can add the publications content to very stylish, well designed, complete with fonts templates. The savings from a business standpoint are readily obvious, produce great looking work without the overhead of a design team.  Or are their trade offs?

I think that there are significant trade offs that may not be readily apparent if one focuses only on the bottom line. Pick any magazine, newspaper or their accompanying website. They all have an artistic signature if you will that comes from the collaboration of a team of Art Directors, Designers and Copywriters  that assemble and layout the work using all of their years of experience and design nuance to produce the final work that goes to press. It is that signature that readers have come to expect and is the publications personality so to speak.

The problem with templates in my opinion is they strive to elevate efficiency and economy of scale to the level of artistic and creative development. Don’t get me wrong here, I use templates myself for small repetitive tasks and they are real time savers in the work flow. My templates are not art, they do not aspire to design greatness and they over time all look the same. Even today if you browse around the web there is a certain sameness that has developed. Blogs tend to look the same. Websites for the most part have the same design structure. Standards are good, we need them but do we want that to take over the publishing industry in the form of beautifully designed, well constructed and prepackaged templates?

Finally, let me finish by saying that having looked at the offerings in the Ready-Media gallery, I am very impressed with the work that they have done and the ease of use with which their packages can be deployed to interested publishers. Needless to say the credentials of Roger Black et al are impeccable in the design world. So it’s left to be seen how this all pans out. And what will become of the designers? That’s a question for another time.

This from the incomparable Rufus Deuchler. If you use InDesign and are excited about the possibilities of ePub especially with the iPad making the scene, this is a must read.