you could have a steam train
if you’d just lay down your tracks
you could have an aeroplane flying
if you bring your blue sky back
all you do is call me
i’ll be anything you need*

when we love we often love for possibility. we forgive our mates all their imperfections in exchange for the promise we see in them. that’s what spring love is anyway. it’s wild and reckless and abandoned. true love is more grounded and accepting. it is a mature love that may still hinge upon possibility, but it sees our lovers’ uglies and accepts them for what they are. when i first moved to long island i fell in love with this place in a springlike way. over the last 10 years my affair with our sandbar has evolved and matured and pulse remains my love letter to it, both for all of our possibilities as well as our uglies (traffic, taxes…). since we celebrated our first decade in publishing last july, we’ve been having a lot of discussions behind the scenes about who we are, where we came from, where we’re going and what we love most about long island. as i said in that issue, sometimes you have to go backwards to move forward.

this issue represents a huge step forward. it’s a redesign of everything about this title from the logo on the cover to our famous last page to the fonts in between. the promise of pulse has always been something bold and beautiful. something aspirational and evocative, but also something cutting and beguiling. as a magazine, we’ve had to develop an aesthetic vernacular that speaks to this wide spectrum of personalities. there have been many permutations, articulated many different ways, through many different, capable, loving, important hands. this issue is tantamount to the harmony of all those hands and the addition of some new ones.

rip georges’ name has graced many mastheads: as the founding director of instyle magazine, an art director tasked with the redesign of esquire, creative director of the los angeles times magazine and the man behind such logos as brooks brothers and eileen fisher. rip georges joins our masthead to harmonize the words and pictures that deliver on the pulse vision. when rip came on in december we started by talking about my initial impulses in starting this title. rip understood both the sophisticated instincts of our readers (you) as well as the immediacy of our position as the region’s foremost magazine. he has rendered a new design that is strictly pulse in all of these ways. this issue is the first of many to follow in the re-imagining of our brand, which makes it a reassertion too.

lilien perito has been leading the charge of our business initiatives as director of advertising for most of these last 10 years. earlier this year she stepped into the greater role of associate publisher to expand both our endeavors as well as those of the advertisers who partner with us. she’ll be lending a hand in perpetuating the mission of pulse but also those of the clients who complete the environment you seek on these pages, through our digital offerings and at live events.

it’s been said that turning a ship is a lot more difficult than launching one. redesigning a magazine is a lot like that. you want to be true to the legacy that’s been established, delivering on readers’ expectations and promises made to clients, but you also want to smash everything to be- gin anew. i think we struck a solid balance between the two—a balance of spring love that’s anchored firmly in the ripeness of our maturity.

i want to be your sledgehammer*—nadA

* “sledgehammer,” peter gabriel