Couple of random thoughts.

The tabloid format still carries enough negative weight that smaller-size newspapers are now referred to as compacts.  I guess that makes the Tryon (NC) Daily Bulletin — an 8 1/2 by 11 and the self-proclaimed World’s Smallest Daily — a sub-compact.  I wonder if the shrinkage will continue and we’ll end up with a pocket-sized smart paper.

It struck me as I was grocery shopping the other day that newspapers and food companies are doing the same thing: shrinking the content as a way to cut costs. Food packages are shrinking while costs increase. Newspapers are shrinking staff and format, forcing stories to be shorter to avoid having a page be nothing but gray body type. I don’t think either move is a good one.

If more and more people get into Twitter and get used to the micro-blogging approach to communication, would it be easier to get people to accept micro-payment news models?

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Related posts:

1. Ask Dr. Design
2. Are we abandoning print too quickly?
3. Newspaper design challenge: shrinkage