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This is turning into Marketing Week where is a “week” is defined as whatever time period I am obsessed with a topic. I came across this great video from the Stanford Publishing Courses for Professionals program. It features Ina Saltz.

Ina Saltz is the principal of Saltz Design and professor of electronic design at The City College of New York. Most recently she redesigned Golf Magazine (1.4 million circulation) while serving as its design director. Ina has served as the art director of TIME Magazine’s international edition as well as Worth, Worldbusiness, High School Sports, Golf for Women, and PC Tech Journal. She writes a bimonthly column for STEP Inside Design and contributes to Graphis, Folio, and others.

She also recently published a book called Body Type: Intimate Messages Etched in Flesh. Think: chest-top publishing. :-)

Granted, most people who read this blog will never test a magazine cover design. However, the principles that she discusses apply to online testing of other things like web sites, blogs, company names, and product names. Also, the fundamental value of online testing that she discusses is insightful: that is, she can go into meetings saying that “customers said…” and cut through the bull shiitake of everyone expressing their opinion about a design.