A little more than a week ago, The Baltimore Sun launched a “reinvention” of their newspaper which included among other things a fresh new look.  I’ve been meaning to comment on this but to be honest I truly hadn’t physically held the print version of the paper until just this past weekend, so I didn’t feel qualified to critique it. (Perhaps this lack of interest in the print version by many readers had something to do with the “reinvention?”)

One of the most notable changes for anyone that has read previous iterations of the print publication is the masthead design.  Whereas the old masthead was more traditional, the new one is more dynamic and colorful - perhaps even a little curvy.  I was also glad to see that they started calling it “The Baltimore Sun” in the masthead, rather than “The Sun” as it was previously.  The Baltimore Sun is, and will always be a Baltimore paper - why the city’s name was downplayed in the past doesn’t make much sense to me. 

Throughout the paper you’ll notice that color, graphics and images play a much bigger role in the paper’s design. Many folks claim that it’s at the detriment of content.  But as their editor Tim Franklin claims their goal was “a more visual newspaper for a more visual age.” They certainly achieved this. I think I’d be ok with the oversize graphics and floods of color alone, but when paired with what are clearly more opportunities for ad space, I begin to lose some faith in the new design.  

Here is the old design (left) next to the new design (right):

Overall, the paper is a quicker read than it used to be. In the image above you can see how low on the first page you have to scan before any content is present (nearly 1/3 of the way down).  They’re clearly trying to reach out to folks on-the-go, but I’m wondering if this strategy makes sense, particularly since in this market there are already a few dailies out there that cater to this audience - one of which is actually put out by The Baltimore Sun (b and The Examiner to name a couple)!  

I did a quick scan of blogs and articles that have been written to date and the reaction seems to be mixed so far.  Advertisers love it.  Many readers dislike it or can’t make a connection. Members of my generation are largely apathetic because they get their news from other sources (hello Twitter). Whether or not it’s the solution for the woes at the paper remains to be seen, but it seems to be a step in the right direction.  I invite you to check it out for yourself and let me know what you think.  Simply click HERE or pick one up at your local newsstand.

Garret Ohm
http://www.orange-element.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 at 8:57 am and is filed under Blog Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.