Time magazine’s much vaunted redesign hits newsstands today and so far, the read seems largely positive.

Even critics of change concluded that Managing Editor Rick Stengel and designer Luke Heyman have succeeded in creating a cleaner look.

The Nation, World and Business headings really do help the reader navigate the magazine.

However, one point of controversy, the cover subject, “How the Right Went Wrong” features a photo of former president Ronald Reagan with a fake teardrop running down his face. There is no mention of the fact that the picture was a Photoshop job.

Time insists that its hard-to-find cover credits on the Index page explains the makeup of the cover. They gave separate credits for the Reagan pic and the tear.

Stengel hopes this redesign is better received than the last one. In 1987 when Managing Editor Henry Muller unveiled a new look, it lasted about as long as New Coke.

Stengel opens with a section called Briefing. The second page is a spread with a map of the world that shows us what the people in other countries think of the United States. The map reminds us of Felix Dennis’ The Week.

The issue also looks quite thin, so it appears that the ad team didn’t exactly convince the advertisers that this redesign was a great event.

The Commentary section has been criticized internally as perhaps being a bit too “wonky,” focusing on policy, law and history with a lot of opinion and analysis.