Some readers notice design trade-offs
“Design is fine, but not at the expense of content.”
That was a comment from a reader after last week’s introduction of the newly-redesigned Los Angeles Times. About 80 percent of the 300 or so reader comments were negative, which is partly to be expected.
With my own redesign projects, I have found that about half the readers don’t want a thing changed in their newspaper, no matter what it is. Ever. So finding readers who don’t like your design changes is not unusual, though I think 80 percent is a little high.
One of the most telling comments came from a reader who said that each design change were sold as design “improvements,” such as more white space, larger photos and headlines and simply fewer pages. But they all basically meant less content.
Readers notice these things, and many are not happy. I have been railing against cutting back on content as a way to save money for years. It is like a race car driver deciding to make the engine smaller as a way to reduce weight. Uh, won’t that make you go slower? With newspapers: uh, won’t that make your paper less attractive to your core readers?
A number of readers said they were going to cancel their subscriptions, the ultimate measure of success or failure.
Design IS important, but we must never forget it is CONTENT that sells paper. Make sure your design changes improve your content, not just make your paper look better. Do your research. How do you do that? Next post!