The National Post and Vertical Integration!

The National Post launched its new design on September 27th.
Have a peek at the Post's new look!






Editor-in-chief Douglas Kelly writes:

... we have developed a look that respects the underpinnings of the Post's design -- a unique combination of traditional and modern typography and layout -- while pushing new boundaries and giving the Post a unique, instantly recognizable look. The design changes do not stop with the front-page banners. We have also increased the size of the typeface and bumped up the space between the lines to improve readability. We have standardized the number of typefaces and moved to a cleaner font for charts, graphics and sidebars. And we have introduced recurring design elements that will break out the background to a story, provide the investment angle and detail what's coming next. Great design goes hand in hand with great content, and we have made many improvements on the latter front as well.

Here are side-by-side comparisons of the new and old section fronts.







Here's the National Post's blog entry on the relaunch. Check out Charles Apple's blog post on visualeditors.com/apple.

Already booked in for SND's Boston workshop Oct. 11-13, but think you might need some more stimulation? The Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario (RGD Ontario) is focusing its annual conference to reflect on design and its role in society and commerce the very next week, Oct. 17-19. DesignThinkers 2007, Canada's premier graphic design conference, will be a stimulating interactive thinkfest on the ideas of exciting innovators and Canada's vibrant design community in general.

What's RGD Ontario, you might be asking? It is the self-regulatory, professional body for graphic designers in Ontario grants the right to use designations Registered Graphic Designer and R.G.D., a quality signal of standards of professional practice. The association has approximately 2800 members.

Get all the poop on the conference on the DesignThinkers website

Oh, and while you are there, why not take a stab at RGN Ontario's online design quiz! Here's a tease: Know which logo, designed by Toronto graphic artist Allan Fleming, was called 'an icon' by media theorist Marshall McLuhan? Is it A, Bank of Montreal logo, B Canadian National Logo, or C, CBC logo?

Design | The 2012 London Olympics

The London Olympic committee has unveiled its new logo - a jagged pink and yellow thingy based on the date 2012. (It comes in a few other colours as well.)

"This is the vision at the very heart of our brand," said London 2012 organising committee chairman Seb Coe.

"It will define the venues we build and the Games we hold and act as a reminder of our promise to use the Olympic spirit to inspire everyone and reach out to young people around the world.

"It is an invitation to take part and be involved.

"We will host a Games where everyone is invited to join in because they are inspired by the Games to either take part in the many sports, cultural, educational and community events leading up to 2012 or they will be inspired to achieve personal goals."

That's a tall order for a little logo.

The Globe's online push

The Globe and Mail has been very active with changes on the online front. Back on April 28 when it launched its print redesign, the national newspaper also unveiled a redesigned and restructured business web hub - reportonbusiness.com - which premiered a new look for globeandmail.com.

In Monday's paper (June 4), the Globe took the unusual step of carrying a glossy insert promoting "Canada's new financial supersite."

reportonbusiness.com takes the Globe's online business coverage, globeinvestor.com pages, advanced investment tools and mutual fund data and analysis into one enhanced site.

The Globe has since flipped its home page into the new design. It also gave birth to a new GlobeLife hub in the new look back on the April 28 launch day.

Here are the highlights of the new design:

• Elimination of vertical navigation column in order to create more above-the-fold space on the page for editorial content.


• New design allows editors to switch the layout of any page on the fly to reflect the news of the day -- there are a collection of routine news and major news options.


• Built and launched a new video player to make video content an integral portion of the site. This can be seen in both the "multimedia centre" on the Home page and in the redesigned story pages that allow video to truly stand out.


• Redesigned article page to enhance readability and to allow content related to the article -- such as video -- to stand out without in any way impeding the reader experience. Article page now also allows for in-line stock quotes.


• Subtle adoption of the design element of the print edition -- the new maple leaf, new font on page labels, etc.


• Use of a more subtle palette on the hub pages to reduce clutter and visual noise.
  
• Fewer images on hub pages, but images used more selectively and creatively.


• Ad placement has been tweaked to maximize ad effectiveness without in any way detracting from the effectiveness of the editorial.

Here's a link to globeandmail.com editor Angus Frame's online chat about the new look on May 23.

On Friday, June 1, the Globe flipped six more content hubs into the new design: Technology, AtPlay, Personal Tech, TQ@Work, Science and Opinions

STAR PREVIEWS ITS NEW LOOK

The Toronto Star has let the cat out of the bag. While most papers go to great lengths to keep their redesign projects top secret until the big day, the Star rolled out a two-page redesign readers' guide in its Saturday and Sunday editions, complete with images of sample sections fronts constructed on a five-column grid and a new body type sample, more than a week before its May 28 launch. See pdf here


The readers' guide lays out four key changes:
1 'Bigger body type': The Star's custom Torstar Text will increase in size from 9.9 over 10 to 10.25 over 11.
2 'Easier to handle': The Star will gradually move to a 11.5 inch page from the existing 12.5 inch size over the next five months.
3 'Focus on local news': The Star is moving Greater Toronto News "to the front of the line" A-section, made way by creating a new section for world news and comment.
4 'New and improved daily sections': The Star will expand coverage of lifestyles in a new Living section, focusing on health, food, family, relationships and other topics.

In a Saturday Star A2 column, Editor-in-Chief Fred Kuntz admitted that many readers dislike change. "But no newspaper should stagnate," he said. "We will embrace any change that heightens your enjoyment of the newspaper."

"That's why we began this project by improving our understanding of readers -- and seeing how every reader is different. Many will jump to their favourite section first. Some are fans of one columnist, or devotees of certain puzzles or comics. With 2.9 million Star readers a week in print and online, that's a lot of interests to satisfy.

"We conducted in-depth readership surveys, and met with groups of readers in person to review our plans."

'Sleeker' Star: new sections, larger type, increased local coverage

The Toronto Star plans to roll out a dramatic redesign on Monday, May 28.

Word is the Star is thrilled by how fast the project, headed up by design boss Charlie Kopun, was pulled together - less than five months.

"Newspapers typically take a few years to go through this process, but it seems inconceivable in this day and age to take that long to bring a new version to market," said Star publisher Jagoda Pike. "So we said we were going to change the cycle and get out to market as quickly as we can."
The new-look Star is expected to feature:

• Bigger body type - 10.25 over 11;


• Cleaner crisper headlines with sections clearly labeled and colour-coded;


• A move towards an 11.5-inch page, a first for major North American broadsheets;


• Enhanced local news coverage with Toronto and GTA content moving to the A section;


• A new World & Comment section, published Monday through Saturday;


• A new daily and weekend Living section.

In a story that ran in the Star on May 3, Jagoda Pike said the increase in body type size will translate into less content in "some cases," but the editorial team is countering that issue by experimenting with smaller headlines.

"We are going to use the space more effectively for good storytelling," editor-in-chief Fred Kuntz said. "I'm not interested in story count or number of words. The most important thing is to hit the topics that readers are most interested in."

Jagoda Pike also announced a move towards modular adverstising, starting in January. "We are the only medium that sells ads by any size," she said.

Links:
Star news release
Star story
And story on Media in Canada site

AND THE WINNER IS

Genevieve Biloski, National Post

Beating out Cinders McLeod, The Globe and Mail and Philippe Tardif, La Presse, Montreal.

Not newspaper-y, but definitely design-y

Once a day, you should find something that really turns your crank, from a design perspective. For me, today, it's the Apod.

The what-pod? Is this another product from the brainiacs at Apple?

Heck no. What some clever British design team has done is find a way to gussy up the drab, every-day asthma inhaler. With asthma rates in children rising at alarming rates, what says "Hey kids, breathe easy - look at the groovy gadget you get to play with" better than a colourful carrying case? There's even a glow in the dark version!