Page Critiques and Comment

A number of daily newspapers unveiled redesigns recently, but what got my attention was the vertical nameplate (why in the heck do some people insist on calling it the “masthead”?)in the Hartford Courant. Here we have the oldest daily newspaper in the U.S. and not only do they Kate Moss the thing by making it thinner, but they make it thinner, too. By that I mean the newsprint size and the number of pages during the week.

Then, to make matters worse, they toss in a tres moderne nameplate in traditional blackletter in a vertical position. Then they take my favorite dot (the period that has been at the end of their name) and make it the dot before com, referring to the web site. I feel sorry for that good ol’ period. And don’t they know that to fight the new skinny look, they need to go with horizontal stripes, not vertical?

And what’s with the CT in front of every standing head? Don’t their readers know they are in Connecticut?

I have always liked the design of the Courant, and they still have great art and typography and ample white space. But I think they botched this one, even though I understand the financial pressures and their desire to connect more closely with the web site. Here is a sample:

First off, The Smithfield (VA) Times is a weekly paper that I redesigned a few years back. (So, naturally I like it!). The important part of any redesign, however, is how well the staff takes the plan to heart and keeps it going. Editor/Publisher John Edwards and his small staff have done a superb job.

The layout is traditional and clean. The teasers beneath the flag include a Quote of the Day, which I believe has been popular. The headline size and weight are just right. Too many weeklies tend to use heads that are too small. The main art is a colorful stand-alone photo and it works well. The eye movement is into the rest of the page, which is always preferred. The page is anchored with a strongly played story in a box with a fever-line chart. It effectively uses an odd measure, breaking the six-column grid. The head-size is perfect, and the story is amply framed with white space inside the box.

Compare that to the Fourth of July story above, which is much too tight. If your gutters are 1 pica, I would recommend going with a frame inset of 1p6, though you should cheat a little smaller for a 1-col. box. Give your content room to breathe!

The color bars at the top and bottom of the page keep it grounded nicely. The use of the same typeface family for all the heads gives the page a consistent, professional look. Overall, a fine page.

Here is a quick (and dirty) sample of how we will do our critiques of your paper. Because the critique videos are large, we will create the video and commentary and then send it to you on a CD. This sample is very brief compared to a complete critique.

Sample critique. It will work better if you give the video a few seconds to load before you start playing it.