In 1988, as SND Region 7 director — and an assistant managing editor at The Arizona Republic — I put the Society of Newspaper Design’s first-ever membership survey into the mail. The tabulations were prepared by the Republic’s Market Research Department and dated August 9, 1988.
The pitch to members was straightforward:
We need your help. Enclosed is the first ever SND membership survey. This survey will be used to evaluate current Society programs and publications, identify the areas that should be expanded and help in the development of new services.
The methodology section explains the mechanics: a six-page self-completion questionnaire mailed to 1,500 domestic and 200 foreign SND members on May 25, 1988, with the total membership serving as the sampling frame.
There were 775 usable questionnaires returned for a response rate of 46 percent.
A few numbers that still stand out. Ninety percent said their newsroom or art/graphics department had one or more personal computers — and among those, 92 percent were using Macintosh to create graphics or illustration. Asked what would become more important at their newspaper in the next five years, computers topped the list at 89 percent, followed by informational graphics at 83 percent, design principles at 79 percent and color at 76 percent.
Members were also generous about the Society itself: 82 percent thought dues were “about right,” 64 percent said they always read Design journal, and 93 percent liked its magazine format. The soft spots were attendance and awareness — only 41 percent had been to a workshop or convention in the previous two years, and the most common reasons given were “too far away” and “too costly.”