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-   -   Osprey's obsession on colour eye candy (http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=50384)

Jukka Juutinen 27th January 2018 17:36

Osprey's obsession on colour eye candy
 
And I am talking about colour profiles, I am talking about e.g. the armament diagram on page 26 in Dual volume 26 (Fw 190 vs. B-17). The back cover promises "unrivaled detail", yet e.g. that diagram is very much lacking in true detail. Original handbook drawings would have provided much better information and detail. The same applies to the really awful cutaways of the Air Vanguard series. Compared to a cutaway by e.g. Mike Badrocke, AV's cutaways look aimed for children. So far the Air Vanguard titles have been very lukewarm at best as the old Aircraft in Profiles managed to squeeze more technical information within 24 pages than AVs do in 64, in part thanks to a much better layout (minimum blank areas and tighter font).

So, the question is that are current readers so easy to fool with colourful eye candy?

taitbb 28th January 2018 03:38

Re: Osprey's obsession on colour eye candy
 
I think it is a matter of what the target market is for say an Osprey book. I have a small number of them and enjoy them for what they are. A broad stroke covering of a particular subject matter. While lightish, I do find them well written.

I am mostly commenting on the Aces series. Not familiar with the versus series other one of the tank volumes.

Jukka Juutinen 28th January 2018 19:39

Re: Osprey's obsession on colour eye candy
 
They could be considerably more detailed within the same page count very easily. E.g. the above mentioned Duel volume has about 3800 characters per full text page. E.g. an old Aircraft in Profile has over 7000 characters per page. But even Osprey has done better ocasionally. E.g. the Elite volume 38 (NVA and Viet Cong) hasd its pages properly filled with smallish print giving over 8000 characters per page.

hedgehog6 28th January 2018 23:29

Re: Osprey's obsession on colour eye candy
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Jukka Juutinen (Post 246674)
They could be considerably more detailed within the same page count very easily. E.g. the above mentioned Duel volume has about 3800 characters per full text page. E.g. an old Aircraft in Profile has over 7000 characters per page. But even Osprey has done better ocasionally. E.g. the Elite volume 38 (NVA and Viet Cong) hasd its pages properly filled with smallish print giving over 8000 characters per page.

I think Ospreys are heavily slanted toward modellers and modellers are an increasingly aging demographic with, frankly, failing eyesight. Tiny print is a no-no.

Jukka Juutinen 29th January 2018 04:51

Re: Osprey's obsession on colour eye candy
 
I don't buy that. Especially as a quite significant improvement would be possible by eliminating the wasted space (e.g. in the Duel series 30 % text per page). Besides, if one can't read "tiny" print, can he really build accurate models. And I would say that e.g. the Duel series is not primarily for modellers.

CJE 29th January 2018 21:04

Re: Osprey's obsession on colour eye candy
 
Be serious. You can't have pages stuffed with text with margins of 1 cm!
Osprey is no fanzine. They publish commercial books for the general public.
What you call "wasted space" is a layout to appeal to customers' eyes.

Jukka Juutinen 30th January 2018 13:12

Re: Osprey's obsession on colour eye candy
 
CJE: Are you saying that the old Profiles were non-commercial fanzines? Or Monogram Close Ups? Or JaPo books? Or 4+ series? Or Aerofax series? Thus far I have never met anyone who like wasted space in their books just for the sake of "appeal". In fact, negative comments on Osprey's wasted space are quite common on e.g. Amazon customer reviews. They would be even more common if the they were given a chance to have 90 % more text for the same price.

Chris Goss 31st January 2018 08:59

Re: Osprey's obsession on colour eye candy
 
Jukka. I am working on my third book for Osprey ( not in the Duel series). I agree that previous posts have stated that they are "lightish" in content but that is what they & the buyers want. In the latest book it is 30,000 words, 70 photos & 30 profiles. The profile artist takes the profiles very seriously (in my case Chris Davey) but I will say that they try to depict 'clean' aircraft. However, I reiterate the style works & people in the main buy and enjoy-why would Osprey continue if it wasn't working?

Jukka Juutinen 31st January 2018 14:53

Re: Osprey's obsession on colour eye candy
 
Chris, perhaps buyers have no choice. Why doesn't Osprey test it? I.e. by doing e.g. an Aces volume with the same number of illustrations but 50 % more text by a tighter layout. For the same price. And then ask the readers do they want X amount of information for price Y or 1.5 X amount for price Y. I truly wonder who would prefer less for the same price.

Orwell1984 31st January 2018 15:26

Re: Osprey's obsession on colour eye candy
 
I've been following this discussion with interest.
From the beginning it appears to be a case, to use a metaphor, of someone going into a vegan restaurant and being upset they can't get a nice steak. Osprey books are know for being shorter, illustration heavy, mostly introductory books. The illustrations are the main selling feature of most of their series as most of their regular customers realize. A quick glance at their website shows the importance of the illustrations to their business model.
As to doing text heavy books, they have tried this. The old Battle Orders series was very text centred, with a layout similar to what the OP requested. The series was cancelled due to poor sales. It is apparent that Osprey is releasing their text heavy titles as part of their general history books, not part of their series which have a rather rigid design outline.
Osprey has hit on a formula that obviously works for them so why would they change it?


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