Salon on Domino: The Conflict Intensifies

This just in. From a reader out West, the debate continues as we were sent a link to this article in Salon which says "Don't buy it!" as the mag "reduces readers to consumers without brains or a sense of style." Here's our reader's response:

I am conflicted about Domino. Its not the Lucky Life sections that I thought were so good, and in some ways I think Met Home's 10 pieces of furniture are somewhat more useful. and I always liked their High Low pages, but Shop Etc does that now too. Todd

Conflicted is where we may all be until we can actually read this thing for a few months. We have already given our first impression and will certainly continue to consider our opinion as the mag rolls out AND even as we allow a large portion of our site get rented out by the Domino advertising department, but "reducing readers to consumers without brains or a sense of style" seems like a harsh first pass.

The people at Domino are either going to have style, be useful and win us over or they won't. The truth will out. MGR

Comments (17)

wait. did i miss something? Domino is renting out a large portion of AT for advertising? am i having a syntactical misunderstanding?

Yep - it's true and it sure is nice to actually get more advertisers coming to US. We didn't seek out Domino at all.

For the record - The way we work is that I write what I write and my brother handles all business. Domino came to him and hammered out a deal to buy advertising for awhile on the front page and we have been working together to make it tasteful and as stylish looking as possible so as not to break up the site.

The situation is that we can't exist without advertising, so we take it as long as
A. it is a good fit for the subject matter of the site and
B. we don't feel the advertiser is a crook, charlatan or bad person.

Domino is a fine advertiser right now and as far our editorial goes we will continue to feast on all controversy and would never consider any stupid, positive comments that bear no grounding in reality or what we *really* think. MGR

I'm fine with paid advertising at AT; congrats for attracting the big-wigs attention.
That being said, I bought Domino last night and finished it while eating breakfast this morning.
It's mindless fluff, and I agree with some of the criticisms raised in the Salon article.
I feel very sorry for people who look to Domino for inspiration to develop their own style because it won't be pretty--just expensive.

I bought Domino today- and having low expectations... was very pleasantly surprised. I buy Lucky on occation, but overall I think it's pretty cheesy. More LA than NY style... which is not bad, just diff from my taste. Domino is way better in my opinion.

I don't know why the introduction of Domino onto newsstands should preclude anyone from reading anything else they want. I welcome it as another option in a category with which I am enthralled. I'm sure the publishers want to succeed and "own the space" but I hope they simply remain another reader option.

And I find it ironic that anyone would raise an issue about "consumerism", pertaining to any magazine. Er, um, isn't a magazine itself an object of consumerism?

They came to you!? Congrats! If nothing else perhaps you'll have a positive influence on them.

I read an interesting article about the dance that advertisers and bloggers are starting to do.

The main gist was that advertisers want in on the blog-traffic-action (and bloggers want the ad-spend money), but advertisers are not accustomed to a forum in which the readers are so unfettered and outspoken.

Will have to see if I can find the original source...

Just read the Salon piece and got my trial issue in the mail on Saturday. I think they nailed it perfectly. The magazine is crass, unfocused and surprisingly boring. It has no sense of whimsy or excitement about design. Reading it reminds me of visiting my suburban decorator-cousin who picked out "artwork" because it matched the couch (and curtains and carpet).

I was also pretty unimpressed with Domino. It didn't have anything in it that you can't get from any other magazine (hello source pages) and it also lacked any message that most other publications at least attempt to insert. Really, I don't even have a problem with a publication saying "look at all this cool stuff" if they at least do it in an interesting way. Like Teo said, Domino is just boring.

i think it's fine to have advertising, really! but, this may not have had such an impact on maxwell, being a man and all, but when Sassy Magazine went under it KILLED me! That magazine was pretty much the ONLY magazine on the market that was empowering AND fun for adolescent girls. Their advertisers started pulling their $$ b/c the content was too "feminist"! Thus, now we have Jane. Which is pretty much as dumb and unenlightened as Cosmo. (well, a bit better.) I'm just saying - I hope Conde Nasty doesn't become a controlling influence on what we can and cannot write here!

Despite Domino's target audience being (single) women, I picked up the issue... Looked through twice... To see if there was anything very useful...

I dunno... I'm not overly impressed. Metropolitan Home or Interior Design or Dwell are great mags too. Is Domino supposed to feature more affordable stuff? Is it supposed to compete with Real Simple?

I think these magazines that target a specific sex are often just dumb.

The spread on turning an outfit into a room... Was a little ridiculous.

I bought the magazine over the weekend and actually found it fun to read. It's not stuffy like Elle Decor or Architectural Digest and isn't crafty and chintzy like Better Homes & Garden. It fits a certain life stage and is a good entry point into bringing style to your home especially if you don't have a big budget or are just in a rental.

Domino is a source I can use to find things I might want to buy.
I think that's why the magazine was created. For Inspiration I read other magazines like World of Interiors, House and Garden,
the Casa Vogue supplemental with Italian Vogue, and others.

I *liked* the article on turning an outfit into a room. Some people know what to wear but don't know what to put around them.

I'm the opposite--maybe someday my house will teach me what to wear...

Just read that Salon piece, and I TOTALLY don't get the writer's venom-level. Why/how is this semi-new genre of magalog really any different from Vogue?

Seema-- I very much doubt that Domino having a banner or two on this site will change or drive content (any more than HGTV or Knoll banners have done in the past). And we KNOW it won't have an impact on what the posters think or say!!! ;)

Actually, the fact that Domino gets what this site is about (and what kind of audience it serves up) makes me more apt to like/connect with Domino. I'll tell you shortly... just picked up my brand-spankin' new copy.

I guess I never like the premise that consumers are mindlessly accepting of everything sent their way. I like to think that I am capable of reading a magazine and deciding that I like or dislike something based on my taste, not the magazine's. I mean, all magazines tell you what's in and what's not in, and we are capable of deciphering that. Haven't read Domino yet, but I will check it out.