The editors and designers of Art Jewelry meet every year for a retreat, where we look at what's been successful in the past and what direction we'd like the magazine to go in. To prepare for the meeting, we often raid bookstores and buy magazines that are accomplishing a little of this, a little of that — the stuff we want to incorporate into our own voice.

Last Friday I pulled at least 20 magazines off the rack. But as I looked, I started to get frustrated, because I realized I didn't like a lot of them, for their content or their design. (Of course, I also found some excellent magazines that I'm excited to share at the retreat.) Personally, I enjoy women's magazines and home-decor-type stuff for about 10 minutes. Then I get overwhelmed by a feeling of failure: my home will never be that neat or color-coordinated (who buys only orange books to place just so on their shelves?), my appearance will never be that calculated (I think this is worth a try, but I don't even have children and I can't find time to brush my hair in the morning; thankfully, my hair stylist works with me on this), and my "decor" isn't really worthy of the term. The design of many magazines is as overwhelming as the content. There are odd lines and colors and icons, and navigating them feels like trying to find your way on an alien planet's subway system. Or the pages are cluttered with an uncaptioned confetti of pictures.

But for me, being overwhelmed soon turns to being annoyed. Instead of feeling like a failure, I start to feel like it's the message in those magazines that's wrong, because I think that people should follow their own bliss, should put time and effort and money into what matters most to them, not into what matters to the collective of women's magazines, the home and garden world, or the industry's fashionista manifestos. This experience reaffirmed for me that it's good for me to be at Art Jewelry, a magazine that exists for the sole benefit of those people whose priorities, in my book, are admirable. For those people who are following their own bliss, putting effort into what matters to them.

I've always cared a lot about Art Jewelry, but meditating on all this makes me even more determined that Art Jewelry should be that excellent magazine that people buy off the newsstand, excited to read it and share it with friends. There are, as always, a few areas of the magazine that I think we could improve. But I'd really like to know what would make the magazine better for you. If you could have anything you wanted from Art Jewelry magazine, what would it be?

I'm excited to hear your thoughts on this! Thanks, in advance, for sharing!

–Kristin