First look -- Baltimore Sun redesign

What do you love about it?

 

I actually like it too. The only thing I'm not impressed with is the full body column pics. Maybe I'm just thinking about myself and how I would refuse to pose for one.

 

No. They decided against it after negative feedback from all areas -- readers, advertisers, writers, editors, etc. -- according to my source.

 

Thanks. My laptop doesn't like PDF files for some reason.

 

It's not as bad as some of the others I've seen. But still there are issues:

-The new mugs add nothing.

-They're bold with color - too bold. My issue with it is it takes away from the strong centerpiece photos/packages. Impress me with news art, not with a colorful template.

-As for the four-column setup, I'm very neutral. On the negative, it can handcuff design possibilities. On the other hand, I've seen a couple of paper narrow their web to the point where their columns are absolutely anorexic. Waaaay too narrow. This is better than Gannett and their seven-column obsession with ever-narrowing webs.

 

No problem. It's probably racist ... or something.

 

this sucks.

color. on steroids. give me a fucking newspaper, not a magazine.

full-body mug shots. really? you're slicing newshole, yet you're gonna add three more inches on each column sig? i'm sure you're not slicing the columns by three inches each. oh, no. the writers need the room to stretch their legs, right?

four legs on each page? as sam says, it's nothing like the seven-leg gannett mandate, but shit, it's close enough. wonder how much leeway (i.e. none?) the designers will get?

all this paint-by-numbers style of design and management (which is what it comes down to) really blows.

 

I don't love everything about it, but I do love the approach the section takes. I like the colors, the column "mugs." I think they add the personal touch that newspapers are trying to regain with their readers.

As much as reporters, designers and editors may not like it ... readers like color, they like the personability, they like the different aspects that newspapers can offer now instead of the customary stuff we've seen in the past.

And comparing it to the Sun-Sentinel, Baltimore blows it away.

 

I think the reason newspapers are losing readership is that people want to know what kind of pants their columnists wear. Bravo!

 

If I were a columnist there, I would have wanted a couple of months' notice so I could have lost 10 pounds.

 

The "crime beat blogger" -- last time I saw anyone wearing a shirt that orange, there were a bunch of guys wearing 'em, picking up trash from the side of the Interstate. I guess it will help him interact with petty criminals: Hey, The Sun's blogger has to dress just like us!

 

In case someone out there is keeping count, how many redesigns is that for The Baltimore Sun within the past three years?