However, if one’s aim is to sustain and survive, there is always the unorthodox approach. A chance for an overhaul. The wave of the future is upon us. Change or die. Attention all publications, let’s all evolve into, um, Blogs. Uh… Yay?:

I.D. Magazine, a Design Icon, Folds After 55 Years in Print

BY CLIFF KUANGTue Dec 15, 2009 at 2:04 PM

Devastating news for the design world: After 55 years in publication, I.D. Magazine, America’s foremost design publication, has folded.

I.D. was the oldest product design** magazine in the country, and was the one-time employer of many noteworthy figures, including Bruce Mau. Its yearly design competition, the Annual Design Review, was the oldest and biggest design competition in America, and had been operating ever since I.D.‘s inception. The competition was also the magazine’s cash cow; F&W, I.D.‘s publisher, plans on continuing the event and publishing the results online.

In the course of its publication, the magazine won five National Magazine Awards: For General Excellence in 1995, 1997, and 1999; for Special Interests in 2000; and Design in 1997. That amounted to an astounding haul for a magazine with only 30,000 readers per issue. Nonetheless, according to F&W sales managers, I.D. had not turned a profit in seven years and was beset by competition from shelter magazines and mainstream glossies, which have been aggressively adding design coverage, owing to rising interest in design among mainstream audiences.

Meanwhile, I.D.‘s sister magazine, Print–a storied design magazine in its own right–will stay open. The news came one day after the company’s employee appreciation day.

read more: http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/cliff-kuang/design-innovation/breaking-after-55-years-id-magazine-design-bible-folds