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The Kirksville Daily Express in northeast Missouri took part in the GateHouse Media News & Interactive Division Newsroom Incubator program, which helps newsrooms through redesigns and product development. (Find more about the program on page 22 of the Newsroom Handbook.) The editor of the paper answered a few questions regarding the redesign process. Below are his remarks. Scroll down to see pages from a recent edition. Publication Kirksville Daily Express Editor Jason Hunsicker Online www.kirksvilledailyexpress.com Why you decided to redesign? The paper had gone at least 15 years without a substantial redesign, and over the course of that time the inside pages had become highly disorganized. They had also drifted from the style being used to design our front and sports pages, giving the paper a disjointed feel. What can you tell us about your community? The City of Kirksville has a population of around 17,000. It features a large number of long-time residents, but also two universities and a community college. This creates an interesting dynamic with contrasting views on issues facing the area. What changes did you make as part of the redesign? We added a variety of new content including: Promotions for content the next day, daily reader-submitted photos, most-viewed web stories, featured game of the day, sports number to know of the day and a sports trivia fact. We had to make several changes in terms of who was responsible for what and completely rework the process for completing the newspaper. How have readers reacted to the redesign? Mixed. I believe the largest complaint, that the font size was too small has been solved by a slight increase. Aside from that, most readers under 55 age bracket seem to be happy, and the level of happiness increases as the age decreases. For the most part, our older readers are not fans of any changes, but I believe once they figure out where their favorite features have gone, and see they never move, those feelings will improve. What advice do you have for papers considering a redesign? Be sure to take a good, hard look at the font size to make sure it will serve your entire audience. And be prepared to work. Especially in the beginning, as the staff learns a new way of doing things, it's going to take time. Give yourself plenty of it. Joe Greco is corporate design director for GateHouse Media.
Contact him at jgreco@gatehousemedia.com.
Check out his design blog here.
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The Kirksville Daily Express in northeast Missouri took part in the GateHouse Media News & Interactive Division Newsroom Incubator program, which helps newsrooms through redesigns and product development. (Find more about the program on page 22 of the Newsroom Handbook.) The editor of the paper answered a few questions regarding the redesign process. Below are his remarks. Scroll down to see pages from a recent edition. Publication Kirksville Daily Express Editor Jason Hunsicker Online www.kirksvilledailyexpress.com Why you decided to redesign? The paper had gone at least 15 years without a substantial redesign, and over the course of that time the inside pages had become highly disorganized. They had also drifted from the style being used to design our front and sports pages, giving the paper a disjointed feel. What can you tell us about your community? The City of Kirksville has a population of around 17,000. It features a large number of long-time residents, but also two universities and a community college. This creates an interesting dynamic with contrasting views on issues facing the area. What changes did you make as part of the redesign? We added a variety of new content including: Promotions for content the next day, daily reader-submitted photos, most-viewed web stories, featured game of the day, sports number to know of the day and a sports trivia fact. We had to make several changes in terms of who was responsible for what and completely rework the process for completing the newspaper. How have readers reacted to the redesign? Mixed. I believe the largest complaint, that the font size was too small has been solved by a slight increase. Aside from that, most readers under 55 age bracket seem to be happy, and the level of happiness increases as the age decreases. For the most part, our older readers are not fans of any changes, but I believe once they figure out where their favorite features have gone, and see they never move, those feelings will improve. What advice do you have for papers considering a redesign? Be sure to take a good, hard look at the font size to make sure it will serve your entire audience. And be prepared to work. Especially in the beginning, as the staff learns a new way of doing things, it's going to take time. Give yourself plenty of it. Joe Greco is corporate design director for GateHouse Media.
Contact him at jgreco@gatehousemedia.com.
Check out his design blog here.
