Newspaper design blogger Charles Apple, who's also a Des Moines Register alumnus, dissects Florida Today's big redesign, which debuted today.
"This front page," Apple notes, "starts two stories out front. And the lead story is really just a phat promo."
In other words, today's Page One is a series of graphic/photo-intensive promos for stories inside.
The new look, which will surely be rolled out across other community dailies, is part of a greater digital-first emphasis officially unveiled on Thursday.
In other words, today's Page One is a series of graphic/photo-intensive promos for stories inside.
The new look, which will surely be rolled out across other community dailies, is part of a greater digital-first emphasis officially unveiled on Thursday.
I've seen attempts to turn Page One into a giant billboard for the rest of the paper before.
ReplyDeleteMy reaction: They too often look like feature section fronts, lacking the urgency and energy associated with news.
And news -- local, exclusive, and with broad impact clearly spelled out -- is the key to driving readership, traffic and rack sales.
What's more, Sunday is especially important. CEO Gracia Martore told Wall Street media stock analysts last week that Sunday papers typically account for 45% of total ad revenues within U.S. Community Publishing.
Whoa! That is one butt ugly newspaper.
ReplyDeleteAwesome use of thinkstock photography on that traffic light. Unfortunate that the story is about the cameras, not the lights.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, didn't know that there was a part of the country that still used bulbs in their lights instead of LEDs, though I suppose that might be tough for someone in Nashville to discern for Florida - or vice versa.
I suppose it's like when 2adpro put Hindus into Thanksgiving ads - you lose a bit in translation when you outsource, but close enough.
Ugly as sin -- uglier, actually, since some sin looks pretty darned good.
ReplyDeleteI've seen idiotic newspapers try the same trick since at least the early 1980s. It's evidence of nothing so much as creative bankruptcy. It will do nothing to help print, nor will it drive traffic reliably to the website. (And QR codes are so 2010.)
It's content, stupid.
My, that is awful looking.
ReplyDeleteWhat readers are they trying to attract with this design? And what will happen to the readers they already have . . . who want something that looks like a newspaper? I really don't understand this. Am I just old?
ReplyDeleteWell the link now leads to Monday's paper, which is more traditional with four stories out there. Is the redesign just for the Sunday paper exclusively?
ReplyDelete9:15 Apple has images of the page. (My original link, since removed, went to the Newseum's database, which has since been updated.)
ReplyDeleteAlthough today is the debut, Chris Bistline of the News Design Studio in Nashville told Apple: "We’re starting with Sunday 1A and will gradually roll out the new look to the rest of the paper over the next few weeks."
Like many things, I imagine there will be much trumpeting of the change, but no folo up.
ReplyDeleteThink back to all the publicity Knight Ridder got when they added a pink flamingo to the cover of the Boca Raton news and refused to jump stories off the front page. They took a decent paper with a circulation of about 50,000 and turned it into a 20,000 circulation that some buyer milked for years before closing about two years ago.
IMO there are a couple of interesting points here. One is that this redesign was fed to Apple by the design studio, and the note from the designer seems to imply that the design studio was driving all of this (as opposed to the paper driving it). Wonder if the paper thought it was good to have the design studio out front, publicly on this? (Not the way this company has handled information traditionally.)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm struggling to find a word to describe your statement "the new look, which will surely be rolled out across other community dailies..." Perhaps it's lazy, or misguided, or uninformed? I guess I think you have virtually no idea about how the design studios are working or will work, the dynamics between individual papers, regional presidents, individual design studio designers and top newspaper bosses... The whole concept may be cool in the end, or may fail miserably. But right now, the system is a multi-headed rapidly evolving brand-new entity (entities?) that has dozens of needy stepchildren and virtually no cohesiveness. That you think a single design could spread though such a system defies logic.
Design is overrated. About one in 10 newspaper pages need to be "designed."
ReplyDeleteThe emphasis on "design" over writing, reporting and editing has been a lazy-ass approach for too long in Gannett and other media companies, resulting in a feeble attempt at style over substance.
Yes, I see the grammatical error in the above post. All the more reason for more copy editors and fewer "designers."
ReplyDeleteReliance on design is classic Gannett. It's cotton candy looks good (though not in this case) with nothing of value inside.
ReplyDeleteWell the Fort Myers paper redesigned when it launched CCI a few months ago. Gonna be funny if it has to go through a whole new one again soon.
ReplyDeleteCheck out FT's reported circulation just six months ago, when designers tried a new look - 69,970.
ReplyDeleteNow check out the current ciculation listed at this link - 59,038. A loss of 10,000 subscribers since late September!
I really hate it. I can't find my way into it. And, if it is to be part of the digital revolution, they don't appear to have learned much about SEO. Headlines are supposed to tell you specifically and quickly what a story is about. Funny thing (see Buzz Flash). News still sells. Even to kids who've never held paper.
ReplyDeleteHave you all seen this? How design can help newspaper. http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/jacek_utko_asks_can_design_save_the_newspaper.html
ReplyDeleteTime warp. It really does reek of the 80s. Along with mediocre content nor worth paying for. Death spiral continues.
ReplyDelete"That you think a single design could spread though such a system defies logic."
ReplyDeleteYou should look at Gannett's Jersey papers. And what's going on with the centralized design desks of the Bay Area News Group, Hearst and Tribune. This industry is consolidating and standardizing news design.
Look for each community paper to get a redesign in at least six months after production moves to a design studio.
Interesting they'd note that only two stories started out on A-1, when in the paper they showed from October, also only two stories started out on A-1. The October page, however, at least had some impact in its lead story. I frankly thought the big traffic light down the right side of the new design was an ad -- which it well might be soon.
ReplyDeleteRemember when color was going to save newspapers?
Centralized design (a maybe a spell check in lieu of copy editing) is the McPaper dream come true. Gee. Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteLipstick on a pig.....
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteAnd I used to think no paper could look uglier than Florida TODAY.
ReplyDeleteWell, obviously, the new Florida TODAY does!
The lead here isn't the good or bad of the design. It is the focus on print and doing 'something' for it. This design takes resources focused on print with an idea that they can do something about its decline. That isn't digital first when that energy could be applied to online efforts an innovation.
ReplyDeleteIf all of this energy doesn't impact the declining trend, you might find your time was better spent hiring digital innovator rather than page designers. Yes, you have to have them anyway, but there is energy and time for a redesign in the first year and this is time intensive design for the long haul.
It is not so much designed as decorated. Too hectic. Garish. Like a cheap you know what.
ReplyDeleteIt's a newspaper trying to look like the front page of a web site. Way too busy. It's fine if you want to stick a column next to the main story/headline on A1 but this new page...you look at it and wonder what it's all about. Some people call it a comic book front page look...totally not serious for a newspaper.
ReplyDeleteI say pick the main story...hopefully one that will catch the eye of a casual reader/buyer...and present it predominately. Didn't this used to work for decades?
Also note the bottom ad strip is wider. Pretty soon half of "under the fold" will be ads.