Deciding to improve your newspaper design is never easy. A redesign project takes a huge commitment from all members of the newsroom, the pressroom and the advertising department. A commitment of time, and for the publisher, of money.
The payoff can be great, however, and in fact, it may be a necessity in today’s business climate. A good redesign project can not only give you a better news product, it can improve your bottom line. So let’s get to the point.
When should I redesign my newspaper? Let’s start with when not to redesign.
1. Don’t redesign just because it has been a certain amount of time since your last design tweak. How long it has been since the last one has no direct bearing on whether you should do one now.
2. Don’t redesign just because a new editor wants to put his or her imprint on the paper. Granted, it is important to give a new newsroom boss pretty free rein, but that still isn’t enough alone to embark on a redesign project.
3. Don’t redesign because you saw something in another newspaper you liked and you want to copy it. Copying a concept may be OK, but another paper’s design should not be jammed onto your content haphazardly.
Now, the Do’s:
1. Do redesign if you feel that your content mix has changed to the point where a better presentation plan would enhance the reader experience and make the paper more efficient to read.
2. Do redesign if your look is becoming out of date and/or to improve your brand. This may seem to some to be the opposite of what I said in No. 1 above, but it’s not. Yes, sometimes the passage of time may make your current presentation less effective, but it’s not the simple time passage, it’s that over time your design has become a little tired and less attractive.
3. Do redesign if a competitor has updated their look to the point that you look bad by comparison. Design is not simply cosmetic. It’s part of your brand, part of who you are. If you are looking a little nerdy and out of date (“can’t you see your tie’s too wide?”–Billy Joel), you may need a design update, but be sure it is tied to a content change and not just a cosmetic makeover.
4. Do redesign to include more reader interaction, user generated content and cross-connections among your print product, your web page, your blogs and your mobile site.
5. Do redesign if your readers deserve/want a better and easier-to-read product than you are giving them now, i.e., if you are making a thoughtful business decision.
Let me know (bob
newsdesignschool
com) if you would like further help in improving your newspaper design.
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