Home | Redesign/Client Portfolio | Menu of Consulting Services | Online Design & Rethinking Custom Staff Training/Client Portfolio | Marketing | Tips, Articles, Resources | "Design With Reason" Blog | Bio/Contact RETHINKING DESIGN FOR 2010 It's a question I get regularly: "Newspapers are still redesigning?" The answer is yes, but the last two years have created a new landscape. Gone are the days of redesigning "just to freshen up around the house." Editors don't have the time or money for that, and readers don't have the patience, or need, to put up with it. Many papers have redesigned over the years to accommodate new presses or pagination systems, add color, or change format (page size). Now, rather, redesigns fall into several categories. STARTUPS: Yes, newspapers are being started in carefully targeted markets, and they need a design or cultural framework, such as the new paper in Lagos, Nigeria I have worked on over the past year. TWEAKS: Strong designs such as Advertising Age and Crain's Chicago Business (whose full redesign I directed a few years ago) don't see a need for a total overhaul, but rather, "a facelift" is called for as content, organization, or mission evolves over time. Using mostly the same type and color systems, things can be tweaked for a fresh and more functional look. RELAUNCHES: Tired titles are being bought and reinvigorated. Downsized staffs, and news holes, are being rethought with imagination. Companies are emerging from financial reorganization in search of a fresh start. Branding and marketing are key in the design of these projects, and a new starting point to the rethinking process has emerged: advertising and revenue generation. Formerly a distant cousin in the back of the redesign room (if at all), advertising destinations and designs are now front and center. Intriguing to imagine the redesign process starting with a goal of growing revenue 10% or more within the first year, no? Read more in my updated file, "Six Questions on the Redesign Process." A recent blog post examines newspaper redesign that begins with the bottom line. Questions? Feel free to email me at any time.
REDESIGN PROJECTS: Following is a sampling of redesign projects in progress or completed, which I have directed and/or served as lead designer. The links below provide instant access to high-res PDFs. Questions about any of the projects? Want to see more or obtain references? please inquire. Updated May 2010. Media General newspapers. Consulting on the creation of a consolidated design and editing strategy for Tampa Tribune, Richmond Times-Dispatch, and Winston-Salem Journal. (current) Creating Loafing alternative weeklies. Consulting on the redesign/rebranding/rethinking of newspapers including Creative Loafing Atlanta, DC City Paper, and others. (current) Crain's Chicago Business. Consulting on the first major update of our comprehensive redesign in 2006 (completed; to debut summer 2010) Santa Fe New Mexican. Advisor to in-house redesign; consultant on organizational change. The Standard (Nairobi, Kenya). Daily tabloid circulating through East Africa, first total revamp in years. See online portfolio of post-launch pages. See blog entry. Dubai Traveler (Dubai, UAE). Prototype for newspaper for Dubai Duty Free. Vero Beach 32963. Startup newspaper, Vero Beach, Fla. See this blog entry about a reassuring wave of startup newspapers. Crain's Manchester (U.K.) Business. Startup weekly, part of the Crain Communications empire. Download 6-page PDF of sample pages from prototype issue. Negocios Now. Startup publication, Spanish monthly business newspaper, Chicago. Business Insurance Europe London-based offshoot of longstanding Crain's title, Business Insurance. Emirates Evening Post (Dubai, United Arab Emirates) Conversion from broadsheet to tabloid and complete revamp of content, mission and brand. See online portfolio of post-launch pages. Download The Post's Page 2 (super index). Also visit a slide show case study here. Crain's Chicago Business, complete redesign, 2005. Design update in progress, January 2010. See online portfolio of post-launch pages. Additional cover 1 (PDF) Additional cover 2 (PDF) The Harvard Crimson , complete redesign and first conversion to full color See online portfolio of post-launch pages. San Francisco Examiner Conversion from broadsheet to tabloid and complete revamp of content, brand and mission. See online portfolio of post-launch pages. (For an 8-page PDF of the Examiner redesign case study from DESIGN magazine, click here. For a photo gallery of live page designs after the redesign, click here.) The Orlando Sentinel, directed first comprehensive redesign in years (2000). Advertising Age , redesign in 2005, with consult on two design updates, 2007 and 2009 See online portfolio of post-launch pages. Additional cover (PDF). Business Insurance Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram Additional cover. The Dallas Morning News, directed first comprehensive redesign in years. Learn about the redesign from the paper's website. Additional page: Election 2006, Democratic victory. Nowy Dziennik (Polish Daily News, New York City) Philadelphia Weekly * East Bay Newspapers, Bristol, Rhode Island Our Sunday Visitor - U.S. national Catholic weekly The Wall Street Journal (assisted with prototyping Personal Journal section) * Click here for PDF, "The Importance of Design Style at The Wall Street Journal." A behind-the-scenes look of the paper's comprehensive design guide, the production of which I supervised. Gulf News (Dubai, United Arab Emirates) * Hindustan Times (New Delhi) * Grand Rapids Press * Walla Walla Union-Bulletin Lincoln Journal-Star Boston Herald, directed the paper's first comprehensive redesign and conversion to color. Syracuse (N.Y.) Post-Standard * Sarasota/Siesta Key (Fla.) Pelican Press Bainbridge Island Review, Port Orchard Independent, and other papers of Sound Publishing Group Puget Sound Navy News Morning Journal, Lisbon, Ohio. St. Petersburg Times, various sections: TV book, features sections, Tampa edition Metro section, special projects. [ * assisted as part of a larger consulting team]	Newspapers I have redesigned as small as the Bristol Phoenix, and its sister publications in and around East Bay, RI, have shown amazing progress in creating information graphics and cleaner designs.	The links at left will call up high-res PDFs of redesigned publications such as Business Insurance Europe. It is one of more than a half dozen Crain's business titles I have redesigned, including Advertising Age and its sister magazine, Point, below. "Ron worked with me on two redesigns for Advertising Age. Perhaps most important he showed a real understanding of the day-to-day editorial process and limitations - something I've found to be the biggest weakness of most other editorial designers. His designs are not only aesthetically pleasing, but actually help build a better publication that gives more (and more useful) information to the audience - in other words, he can actually help you improve your journalism not just the look and navigability of your product. He's also easy to work with, punctual, creative and an interesting guy to spend time with. I'd highly recommend him to anyone." [Jonah Bloom, former editor, Advertising Age, current CEO and Editor-in-Chief at Breaking Media, NYC]	Emirates Evening Post, a dramatically redesigned and reinvented tabloid in Dubai. Visit this link to see a slide show case study of the Post redesign. Follow the links at left column of this page to download high-res PDFs of this and other client publications.
Updated: May 2010. Email me here.