Daily World Redux
6:03 pm, March 04, 08 by jonesdaily
Is this responsible stewardship of journalistic integrity, financial responsibilities and natural resources — or the first pale horse of the apocalypse?
So it’s a bit different. More color, more subheds, one-inch off both sides, more breakouts and smaller, but more “readable” text. I think it’s interesting, probably mostly a good thing. They’re still working out the bugs.
My random thoughts about the new flag is that the blue carries less authority, but is easier to balance against the rest of the page, which is a problem with the vertical approach. This whole thing kind of snuck up on me, so enjoy.
Edit: Here’s the publisher’s column on the redesign.
Losing that drop shadow on the globe in the flag is well worth the change, in my opinion.
Oooh. I can do design nerding?
The smaller the web size the better, in my book.
I totally dig the punched-out type on that sports front as well as the condensed sans. I think the section front looks immensely better. Are they gonna have guaranteed color positions for their fronts all the time?
I also love the hed slammers on front. I think they shouldn’t be afraid to make the lesser of the three heds a heavier weight, since that third story kinda gets lost.
But I really can’t endorse the globe image next to the flag. First off, it feels kinda cheap – it’s just a stock image of the earth. I think it would build better unity with the section fronts if they followed the punchout model with a cleverly-placed lineart chunk o’the globe.
Either that or focus on type to communicate the brand. I’d like to know whether people associated the image with The Daily World brand or just the words.
I’m also mixed on the flag color. I get a sand and sea feel from it, but I’ve just never been a fan of beige and blue. Besides, while I can see those colors working in Tri-Cities where the river’s fairly blue (Cherenkov radiation?), I’ve never seen ocean that blue outside of Queensland.
Still, it’s a great improvement. Pass my ‘grats onto whoever designed it.
The globe thing is on our sign out front, but I don’t know how closely it’s tied to the brand. The blue is also something from the past. I don’t know.
It’s more of a modern look, but it will take a different approach to editing to take full advantage. They’re working on that now.
I have posted our publisher’s column on the subject to hopefully clear up a few things.