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One of my favorite pages in the new redesign is the contents page. Weird I know, but it's clean, organized and inviting — a drastic difference from what we used to have. The Facebook (promotion) up top allows us to have more interaction with our readers. It invites them to participate, to become involved and puts a "face with a name."
The Q&A with the bartender and artist are quick and easy and fun to read. Coming up with a few interesting out-of-the-norm questions makes it even better.
The events pages are a very important section for our area. People pick up Vacation News to know what is going on in the lake area. Same goes for The Lake Live. The event spotlight allows us to highlight certain events — which is important in our tourism-driven area — and it breaks up the text of a list. The 5 things also serves in the same manner. But the format of the events list is easier to read and more organized.
I love the Bar Flies concept. It's fun and puts more faces in print. And you can add more as a last minute filler.
While it's not local content, the entertainment page that lists movies, dvds and books is a quick read and something we never did before. It would be easy to make it local by contacting a local bookstore and checking out the movie theater schedule. It can also serve as a floating page for us to be able to pull or add if we need to due to any last minute issues.
One of my favorite pages in the new redesign is the contents page. Weird I know, but it's clean, organized and inviting — a drastic difference from what we used to have. The Facebook (promotion) up top allows us to have more interaction with our readers. It invites them to participate, to become involved and puts a "face with a name." The Q&A with the bartender and artist are quick and easy and fun to read. Coming up with a few interesting out-of-the-norm questions makes it even better. The events pages are a very important section for our area. People pick up Vacation News to know what is going on in the lake area. Same goes for The Lake Live. The event spotlight allows us to highlight certain events — which is important in our tourism-driven area — and it breaks up the text of a list. The 5 things also serves in the same manner. But the format of the events list is easier to read and more organized. I love the Bar Flies concept. It's fun and puts more faces in print. And you can add more as a last minute filler. While it's not local content, the entertainment page that lists movies, dvds and books is a quick read and something we never did before. It would be easy to make it local by contacting a local bookstore and checking out the movie theater schedule. It can also serve as a floating page for us to be able to pull or add if we need to due to any last minute issues. Arts and culture 5 things: While the arts community is still growing at the lake, we never dedicated space on that subject in Vacation News. Providing more content with those topics is something I think our readers will enjoy. Using the templates allows us to focus more on content. And for those of us that are design challenged, it gives us a product that looks good. Joe Greco is corporate design director for GateHouse Media.
The new cover is brighter and more vibrant. The typography is cleaner and helps make the magazine leap off the rack. The cover is more templated than the old version, making it easier to design. Now if we could only do something about the size of that ad ... 
The new contents page is much more organized and fun. The staff box and book info runs neatly down the left. Everyone is on Facebook these days, so setting up a fan page is a great way to add exposure. Names, hometowns and mugs of real fans are used here, too! Large vertical photos are part of the template. Though the space is ample, forcing photos to be cropped into this shape and proportion make the photos more alluring.
Contact him at jgreco@gatehousemedia.com.
