The tomato issue

Each week, I will try to go through that week's issue to some degree and provide some insights about the decisions we made – how things end up where.

This week ended up being the tomato issue. Initially, we were going to put the story about e-organ donations on the cover, but -- this will give you an idea about some of the realities of putting out a weekly publication – we weren't sure that the photos from California were going to be good enough to hold the cover.

I also really liked the story pitch behind the tomato story – essentially that cliques end up being a real hinderance on some important issues. As we said in the editorial, it is true with financial management and enterprise architecture. But these linguistic differences have a long history in the area of e-records. And particularly with the recent NARA filing, which officials essentially backed away from, it was a good story with a timely news hook.

The initial cover image had a man with a hand over his mouth and a "OH MY!" look on his face with the draft headline, "Oppps! They did it again!" It was OK and probably would have worked, but…

But when we started reading the tomato story, it is essentially about a language difference, and what better way to demonstrate that language difference then through the tomato.

When we went through the redesign last year, our goal was to keep the magazine fun and interesting. Sometimes the stuff we cover is dense, and so things like this keeps it fun. Last year, we had a pickle on the cover.

I think this is a fun way to illustrate a concept.

Thoughts? Does it work?