Jaunted

Hemispheres sticks to the classic in-flight magazine formula, and does it well. The topics are up to date, but the design would be familiar to a jet-setter in the mid-1970's. A moderately artsy illustration of Chicago's Bean graces the cover. The table of contents leads into an environmental essay by Harrison Ford, which is followed by a few punchy front-of-the-book items on the Songkran New Year's festival in Thailand, high-end chocolate from around the world, and surfing in Japan. After that, it's off to the well, with a deep collection of interesting feature stories on such topics as Three Perfect Days in Buenos Aires, the Fragile Beauty of the Maldives, and Chicago's Urban Green movement (the cover story).

What's notable about these stories - and others on cocktails, stadium food, and mountain climbing - is that they're not just quick one-offs. Each represents several pages of uninterrupted text accompanied by lush, professional photographs, presented in a clear, uncluttered design. In other words, Hemispheres believes that some fliers are perfectly capable of reading long-form journalism, and indulges our desire for proper magazine stories instead of peppering us with lists and charticles. I appreciate that.

Delta's Sky magazine, on the other hand, seems designed for shorter attention spans. The April issue features a smiling Heidi Klum on the cover, cradling the earth and looking a bit like Deltalina. An introductory note by Delta CEO Richard Anderson points out that this is a "new and improved Sky magazine," designed to reflect the many improvements across the airline.

Visually, it's quite engaging, or at least it starts out that way. Every page seems to have some kind of modern design element intended to catch your eye, from a two-thirds-page gadget column that has no less than twelve illustrations and pullquotes, to a monthly Hot List of everything in pop culture worth knowing (Grey Gardens, Tribeca Film Festival, Hannah Montana).

There's nothing wrong with this, and clearly Sky is going on some research that says in-flight readers want visually-oriented, bite-sized pieces of information. And they seem to have some very talented designers as well. But by page 50 or so, I had had enough of all the squiggles and lines and confusing typography. I was relieved to get to the magazine's only proper feature, a well-written story on Rio de Janeiro, but even that had a busy design, with one of those "clockwise from left" photo wraps and all sorts of colorful pullquotes. Finally, a tedious "By the Numbers" spread practically gave me a headache with all its different colors, fonts, and top ten lists. It reminded me of the first couple of issues of Maxim, except with kangaroos instead of bimbos.

To be sure, these are both quality publications reflecting top-notch editorial talent, but if I had to be stuck on a tarmac for two hours with only one of them, I'd prefer Hemispheres for its embrace of actual long-form writing. I've got enough clutter in my life already.

[Photo: Victor Ozols]

Related Stories:
· United Hemispheres Magazine [Official Site]
· Delta Sky Magazine [Official Site]
· In-Flight Magazine Coverage [Jaunted]