The Star's new redesign
The Star's redesign launched today (Tuesday, 1-17-06). I've posted most of the pages here. Whether you love it or hate it, we would love to hear your comments.
Quick rundown of the major changes:
- A magazine-style cover each day, in full color.
- Sports moves from the back page to two full pages inside.
- A daily entertainment page, called "Flavor," instead of a weekly Weekender section.
- Big emphasis on reader-friendly tools like breakout boxes, subheads, numerous points of entry to every story or package.
- Sudoku.
- All-new flag and typography.
Also worth noting is that our students remain fully committed to being an aggressive newspaper with a big emphasis on in-depth and investigative reporting. Everything is just repackaged with busy (and sometimes uninformed) readers in mind.
posted by Jim Killam @ 1:42 PM
12 comments
12 Comments:
Looks great; fresh and alive. I'd prefer sports on the back page but the overall look is good. It will be challenging to keep it fresh.
Love the new front page. Very magazine like. With one quick glance at it, the page really invited me to flip through it. In fact I started thinking I should have a subscription. You guys are on the right track here.
Although the minimalist approach is good for the front page, I'd be careful about being too simple with it.
The new logo is too simple. The star is too christmassy, Something with more depth to it, use the 3rd dimension. If it is going to be that simple, it doesnt warrant that kind of scale, or should be over a photo or something.
Headline font is a bit goofy throughout, need something with a more modern feel.
Sports section looks great, A larger "SPORTS" heading might be nice, so that its almost a paper with the paper.
I like the mix of Local, National, Entertainment and Technology related news and the type of coverage within those areas. I'll be interested to see how this is handled as time goes on.
Jim, do you offer PDF subscriptions?
Jeff: Thanks. We do not offer pdf subscriptions yet, but it's definitely something we could think about. It wouldn't be that difficult.
Unfortunately, I seem to be in the minority...but I DO NOT like the Front page. The layout is OK but the LOGO needs work. All of the interior pages look good (in fact, they don't look much different to me).
Design a new Mast Head and I will be sold! A PDF subscription...good idea...where have I heard that before?
At first blush I thought, "I don't know if this is for me." Then I thought, "well, duh, of course it's not for you, old man." Hopefully it's for the young folk. It's bold, it's bright, it's eye-catching. I think because it has the magaziney tabloidy feel, it's more incumbent than ever to maintain plenty of substance. There's got to be a there there for people to keep coming back. Xbox-Golden Globes-Sudoku, it's a pretty heavy on the light debut. Hopefully in the weeks ahead you will have some screaming front-page headlines raising hell with the power (in Washington and Springfield and DeKalb and NIU) and the student government and the frats (sorry, old biases) and ...
Overall, kudos for shaking it up, thinking creatively and trying new things. As a former sports editor, though, I draw the line at moving Sports off the back.
From an ex-Star and William Randolph Hearst prize-winning reporter in the Star's own award-winning '70s...
Overall an interesting switch from newspaper to magazine 'feel', but sadly lacking in "in-depth and investigative reporting" (in spite of that claim in this blog elsewhere).
Also has an almost total lack of NIU student comment - involve your fellow students. It's THEIR paper! Get THEIR comments/reactions/views.
I'll bet Sony and Microsoft LOVE you guys for that free Page 1 ad. That should have been a paid-for cover wrap (or whatever you call it in the US).
P1 - Star logo too close to the Texaco star of the '50s; looks sadly dated. Surely if The Star is intended to be a NEWS organ, then a computer games story as the page one lead is misleading? And as for the TV soap stars story...is that really relevant for NIU students? (I'd have made the Student Council story (your p5 lead) the p1 lead, or something more directly relevant to students.
P5 - Student Council story should be the p5 lead (if not p1), but why just a mugshot for a pic? C'mon Star lensmen, get creative! A more newsy pic for the games story p5, but how can students get interested in a student gov't story with a just mugshot with it?
Star photographers and capton writers need to be 'stretched' or challenged more - pix too predictable, and captions merely repeat story info (see p10 women's soccer story and repetitive caption).
P7 - Senator Clinton story good, but why no NIU student comments? Involve your felow students - talk to them - report THEIR side of your stories.
P8 - King story a good idea, but (again) why no NIU student views? Get out there 'on the streets' and get NIU student comment into these stories.
P13 - First woman President-elect in Chile - why no NIU SA women officer's comment or reaction?
P18 - Maybe it's me, but I can't undersatand how the Golden Globes story enhances NIU students' lives at all, unless it was used to inform on the campus activites of NIU's student thespians and their upcoming production schedule, their own awards or 'what's bothering' them. At least get their 'take' on the GG winners then.
Might want to consider using the Star Radio and POD-casts for breaking and developing hot news, while using The Star for truly in-depth reporting and investigative journalism, analysis and comment, AND INCLUDING NIU student views, comments and reactions to local, national and international news developments.
Many newspapers (and news mags) nationally and internationally break down into sections for local, regional, national, international news. Currently, while the new Star is quite exciting to read, it is also quite confusing and fragmented with 'true' news mixed with entertainment, sport, national news, etc. If as a student reader I was just interested in NIU news, I wouldn't know what part of the paper to turn to.
Maybe the current NIU student research showed that students want more entertainment than news, but then don't call The Star a newspaper. I honestly can't see it winning any more news awards in future in its current guise, but I genuinely with you all good luck with it. I know from experience it's hard doing a total re-design, so I do empathize.
Here was the editors' rationale for the decision to move sports inside: Sports readers, while not the most numerous, are probably the most loyal. They will go to the sports pages whereever they are. What we had started noticing a lot in the past couple of years was students reading the front page and the back page, then tossing the paper aside without ever opening it. So this move is intended to drive readers inside the paper. Sports is getting two facing, ad-free pages every day, so there's actually more opportunity to do a big package that covers both pages (like they did on Day 1).
The other contributing factor is that sports will get a lot of attention on the FRONT cover now, especially on days when there's high-interest content to promote inside.
Sorry to say, my first impression of the redesign was not very positive. I honestly like the old logo/mast look better and agree with comment about the Texaco Star look. Maybe I'm dating myself (ala Jurik's comment) and most similar reactions I have heard today are from older readers. Didn't think today's headline and meaningless graphic made much sense until I read inside pages story. Moving sports makes sense but, please, use the back page for Something other than ads. That looks like a direct mail circular.
For now, as long as the Star maintains a well-deserved reputation for investigative reporting and solid news, I'll keep reading. I suppose with design these days it is "boldly go" and see what happens. All that said, the key will be students' response. I be watching for that.
Tom: Yes, they definitely need a better mast!
Allan: I agree that the stories should always reflect what students think and how it affects them. However, a front page with the headline "Students needed to fill committee spots" is the most boring thing that they could put on a front page. Wow! A Committee! Thats just what every students wants to read about.
Jim: You left something out. What is on the back page now? My guess is advertising, since there was no PDF of page 20. That's prime real estate right there on the back and I'm sure you can charge a premium for placement there I agree with the choice of moving the sports inside, I think the benefits outweigh the negative aspects.
Yes, the back page is available for full-color ads. We've had a full-page bookstore ad in that spot this week. The thinking was, offering that space as a premium ad spot would pay for a full color front page every day. (Prior to this we could only afford full color once or twice a week.) Time will tell if we can sell enough color to keep doing it every day. But full-color covers were a big priority in this redesign, and that was the only way to even think about making that happen.
I think full-page ads on the back are a good idea, but I would urge against sectioning it up into multiple smaller ads. Anything less than a half page might worsen the "direct mail" look that Lois described.
I love the inside, but the front cover is okay, but I do not like the logo at all. In most cases, the use of the school color is good, but red is not that appealing, and not that good for the color blind.
I love that you included soduku, very trendy and I think the students will like it.
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