For the last year, I have had the honor of being at the helm of an amazing team as we transitioned to the new product focus and brand that you see from i+s today. Although our transition was preceded by months of readers’ surveys and conversations, there was some trepidation as there is with all changes. Add a new editor-in-chief to that mix (my ongoing semi-joke is that it’s alright to ask, “Who the hell is Kadie Yale?”), and the importance of our really listening to what you, the reader, need from us sunk in.

Since then, we’ve been delighted by what we’ve heard. Much of it is positive, some of it is not, and all of it has an impact on what I do as an editor. We’ve heard, “You need to meet this person,” “Where can I get this product?” and “Wow, felt is everywhere.”

So now, a year later, we present our 2017 Look Book; with a year of listening and learning under our belts, we look to the future of the magazine, industry, and our country as a whole. While I pledge that we will always be listening and learning, and that your opinion will always matter, 2017 is a year of action.

In 1986, sociologists Sandra J. Ball-Rokeach and Muriel G. Cantor wrote in “Media, Audience, and Social Structure” that,

“From our point of view, the media audience is not to be understood as mere consumers who passively accept anything that the media offer, but as active individuals and members of social groupings who consume media products in the context of their personal and social goals. In modern societies, that means quite a lot. Because the media system plays such an important role in society, linking the audience to all its various institutions, it is necessarily the case that the media will play important social and personal roles in individual and collective life.”

Since then, the types and amount of media that we consume daily has grown to startling levels. Our smart phones push the news to our home screens, the back of taxis play sound-bite reels 24/7 while a ticker scrolls across the bottom of the screen, and social media is now sewn into the fabric of our society. With so much media out there, it is important for us in the media to acknowledge our roles and responsibilities.

Here at i+s, we take our role seriously as curators of the latest designs that our readers want to know about. We pledge to continue to deliver, and to bring you more than just the “who, what, when, why, and where” of industry news, spending time on the how: how you can help, how you can reach out, how you can become involved in your communities.

We have so much more to look forward to in 2017, but in this issue, we take a step back to not only look at what is coming, but to firmly root ourselves as the go-to resource for products you should know. Like the Humanscale QuickStand (p. 34) which you may have seen around, but have never seen broken down in quite this way. Or the very latest from Maharam (p. 42). And of course we’re still attending events to be your eyes and ears.

Lastly, I wanted to point out our Mood Board looks a little different this month. You can find each of our individual holiday wish lists in their entirety online, using them as a means for you to better understand who we each are as individuals. And if you ever want to reach out, please feel free to. (Everyone’s info is in the masthead.)

Happy holidays and happy New Year, and may we all forge ahead with strength and unity in 2017.

Kadie Yale | Editor in Chief
[email protected]

Mood Board

i+s Holiday Wish List