Tag Archives: Redesigns
WSJ looking to add more color
by Chris Roush
The Wall Street Journal is about to get a new look, one that will bring more color to the traditionally staid business paper, and that could help it attract advertisers, writes Lucia Moses of Adweek.
Moses writes, “The current changes, being made by Tomaso Capuano, creative director at the Journal, are more cosmetic in nature. Capuano was responsible for launching the WSJ’s Greater New York section and relaunching its Saturday edition as the WSJ Weekend section. He came to the Journal in 2008 when he worked on the début of WSJ., the Journal’s glossy magazine.
“Capuano has given a presentation on the changes to the newspaper’s staff. A source with knowledge of the changes said that in addition to changes to elements such as symbols and callouts, there will be more color inside the paper. Section headers will be assigned colors, in the same way the Friday Journal section is blue. (Money & Investing will be green, for instance.)
“The addition of color has been a consistent theme over the years at the Journal. The paper charges a premium for color ads, making them more lucrative than black-and-white. It’s also gradually added more lifestyle news to strengthen its appeal to women and younger readers.”
Read more here.
Missouri biz journal preparing magazine overhaul
by Chris Roush
Brian McNeill, the editor of the Columbia Business Times in Missouri, writes about the newspaper’s planned overhaul of its monthly magazine.
McNeill writes, “In addition to working on coverage for our biweekly Columbia Business Times, we’ve been building a new monthly CBTthat will make its debut in a few weeks.
“I can say our new CBT is the most exciting project I’ve worked on in my nearly 30 years in journalism and corporate communications. Art director Alisha Moreland has created a fresh and engaging look to our magazine that blows me away every time I look at the proofs. I can’t wait to see it printed on glossy pages with a sleek, satin cover. If it seems as though I’m describing a new Macbook, iPad or iPhone — yes, I’m a devotee of Apple design — well, it’s not too far from the truth. The new CBT just looks that good. Wait and see.
“CBT has a tradition of solid reporting and writing, and our new version will carry that torch forward. We have the time and talent to explore business stories in greater detail and add depth and new angles that you probably won’t find elsewhere. In-depth reporting rarely exists these days, but we’re going to take every advantage of it.
“From my days in the J-school at MU, I’ve been aware of the high quality of journalists and photojournalists who call Columbia home. But as I connect with freelancers, I’m truly astounded. We have some great folks contributing to CBT — all hardworking and dedicated.
“And there will be new departments. I won’t spoil the surprise by naming all of them, but trust me, they will bring new dimensions to our publication.”
Read more here.
Mississippi paper makes changes to Sunday business section
by Chris Roush
Lisa Monti, the business editor of The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss., writes about some new additions and changes to the paper’s Sunday business section.
Monti writes, “The goal is to enhance our coverage and presentation of South Mississippi business news and business people. Here’s what’s new and improved:
- Personnel File, which includes new employees, promotions and other honors, has moved from inside these pages to a more prominent display with photos here on the front of our section. Here you can find out about the career achievements of your colleagues, co-workers and competitors.
- The listing of new restaurants is a hugely popular feature with our readers, especially those who like to be the first to know when something new is opening. The listing of restaurants recently approved by the Mississippi State Health Department is shown city by city, and it includes a brief description of what the new kitchens are turning out. We’ll add some extra details, photos and menus when we can. Just take a look at the variety of offerings in this week’s list — everything from Cajun home cooking to sushi. We’re encouraged by the opening of these new restaurants and hope you’ll support them as you do our other local businesses.
- A collection of economic indicators will be featured every Sunday in Business, so that you can get a quick picture of our sales tax, casino revenue, home sales and unemployment rates. Other charts are in the works to help you keep track of our key indicators.”
Read more here.
California paper drops printed stock listings
by Chris Roush
Joe Livernois, the executive editor of the Monterey County Herald in California, writes about why the paper has decided to cut its printed stock listings from the business section.
Livernois writes, “For the past two years or so, The Herald remained one of the last newspapers our size to publish a full daily listing of stock market activity. In fact, we may have been the last newspaper in the United States not named Investors Business Daily to provide such an exhaustive daily review of stocks and bonds and mutual funds. The Wall Street Journal doesn’t even list as many stocks as The Herald did, until recently, in teeny print, Tuesdays through Saturdays.
“For those of us who don’t dabble in the markets, the stocks listings were dead gray space in the daily paper. For most of us who do pay attention to the markets, the daily newspaper listings were, at the least, redundant — or, at the worst, outdated.
“Now it’s time to put away the magnifying glasses. We eliminated the three pages of stock listings two weeks ago.
“Of course, we received several dozen calls of complaints, not as many as the knucklehead editor received when he dropped For Better or For Worse from the daily comics page a couple of years ago.
“At this juncture in modern society and trade, the vast majority of investors are linked in to their portfolios with immediate digital access. In less time it takes to find the Business page in The Herald, I learned on Yahoo! Finance that Apple stock was up 0.25 percent at 12:04 p.m. Thursday. If I relied on the stocks listings in a printed newspaper, I’d have had to wait until Friday morning to learn how Apple closed on Thursday — and who knows what the stock was doing Friday morning?”
Read more here.
Oakland area newspapers to get standalone business section
by Chris Roush
A reorganization of the Bay Area News Group, which includes the San Jose Mecury News, will result in each paper in the East Bay getting a standalone business section.
A story on the newspaper’s website states, ” The East Bay papers will have a stand-alone Business section every day that will include business news from across the region.
“A section focusing on Technology will be added to the East Bay papers on Mondays.”
The Contra Costa Times, Valley Times, San Ramon Valley Times, Tri-Valley Herald, San Joaquin Herald, and East County Times will now be branded under The Times masthead, while the Oakland Tribune, Alameda Times-Star, Daily Review, Argus and West County Times will be rebranded as the East Bay Tribune.
Read more here. The changes are apparently resulting in a number of layoffs at the papers.
The Oakland Tribune rolled out a standalone business section in 2008.
Albuquerque putting business news on section front
by Chris Roush
Michael Murphy, the business editor of the Albuquerque Journal, writes Monday about how the paper is making its business news section a standalone part of the paper.
Murphy writes, “Starting Tuesday, the daily business page plus AP briefing and stocks will begin on a section front and stay there Tuesday through Saturday.
“In addition, look for more local stories, improved local coverage of businesses, and issues and in-depth pieces on topics such as what the health care overhaul means to your business.
“The Journal business desk recently asked more than 50 regular readers what they liked, loved and hated about our business sections and coverage.
“For example: ‘The first thing that always strikes me is that the Business section is buried behind the Food, Pets, Sports, Schools sections in the weekly edition of the paper with the exception of the Business Outlook. It seems like business is more important than that.’”
Read more here.
Time’s cover borrows from Bloomberg Businessweek
by Chris Roush
Dino Grandoni of The Atlantic writes Thursday that the latest cover of Time magazine looks a lot like one from Bloomberg Businessweek earlier this year.
Grandoni writes, “No one would call it a rip-off, but compare Time‘s newest cover to Businessweek‘s lauded “The Kids Are Not Alright” cover from February. If not directly inspired, it does seem like Time has borrowed some of the same aesthetic.
“It’s not unusual for visual styles to catch on and spread through the magazine industry. And Time‘s latest issue is certainly a departure from their recent signature look, which typically black headline text over an image on a white field. You can see some other examples at their cover gallery. It wouldn’t be surprising if they soaked in some of Businessweek ’s ideas. The magazine has been lavished with praise, especially for its visuals, since it redesigned last year after Michael Bloomberg’s media conglomerate purchased it from McGraw-Hill in late 2009. Businessweek‘s covers, whose designs are coordinated by Richard Turley, have in particular received a lot of positive feedback.
“The superimposed-text-on-photo design, however, has become a staple of Businessweek‘s latest covers. In a recent interview Turley said that the typeface is the main conceptual points of his design. ‘It’s kind of a nerdy thing to concentrate on,’ he told Business Insider. ‘Using Helvetica is a little bit risky because it’s such a well known typeface, and you kind of see it everywhere.’”
Read more here.
Newspaper owner to biz editor: Do what you want with biz section
by Chris Roush
TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE
Talking Biz News recently reviewed a letter from a daily newspaper owner to the business editor of the paper.
The letter, in total, read:
Wont you kindly lay out the financial pages exactly as you would have them if you had full authority in the matter and if you wanted to produce the best financial pages in town? I don’t think we have sufficiently important quotations, and I don’t think we cover quite enough departments in sufficient detail to make a complete and fully authoritative financial page, and further than that I think we ought to cover produce quite fully in order to make the paper valuable in the country as well as in the city.
There are a great many things in the other papers that we do not have. Personally, I don’t know which of these are valuable or whether all of them are valuable or not. But I know that you can decide all of these matters, and I wish you would kindly lay out two financial pages made up mainly of departmental matter of a kind to compel the interest and to satisfy the demands of the business community.
The date of the letter was May 13, 1914, and the writer was William Randolph Hearst. The letter was to Bertie Charles Forbes, the financial editor of the New York American, Hearst’s paper. It’s doubtful such a letter would be written today.
Forbes, of course, would start a business magazine three years later, but continue to write a column for the American.
Florida paper adds business content
by Chris Roush
The Lakeland Ledger, a New York Times Co. paper in Florida, is adding pages and content to its business section.
One extra page will be added to the business section on Thursdays to focus on personal finance. Three news columnists will be added to provide readers, specifically seniors, advice: The Savvy Senior; Smart Spending and On the Money, which will rotate every other week; and Kurt Elmhorst, a financial analyst who will write a weekly column geared toward older investors. Elmhorst’s column will debut Aug. 18.
On Friday, another extra page will be added to business, focusing on automotive and investment content. Local columnist Laura Lear will provide investment advice for the average person.
Vickie Velez, who writes about the local employment scene, is a new columnist at the paper. Her column, Job Today, Gone Tomorrow, runs the last Wednesday of the month in business.
Read more here.
Arkansas weekly biz paper undergoes redesign
by Chris Roush
Arkansas Business, a weekly business newspaper, rolled out Friday its first redesign since 1993.
A story on its website states, “Ron Reason of Chicago, an internationally known design, strategy and branding consultant, helped lead the charge to the new look. His experience includes redesigning the look of The Wall Street Journal, Advertising Age and Crain’s Chicago Business. Reason describes in a blog on his website what has changed in Arkansas Business.
“‘The newspaper is unveiling new features, more graphics, and new elements to distill and project the expertise of the subjects of its stories. Typographically, the new mix offers a greatly improved font for body text, as well as much greater contrast for headlines on the front page and on major stories inside, for department labels, and for boldface names within text — a key part of the publication each week,’ he writes.
“‘Making the paper easier for scanning was paramount, even though research shows a tremendous read-through rate, with the majority of readers spending 35 minutes or more with each issue. In-depth reading is an expectation with this audience, and the need to package longer stories with better photos and graphics has been addressed.’
“Arkansas Business Publisher Jeff Hankins notes in his column in Monday’s edition that this is the first redesign of the newspaper he’s seen since arriving at the publication in 1993.”
Read more here.
