(Editor's Note: this article originally published at www.brasstacksdesign.com and is reproduced here with the permission of Alan Jacobson.)
The Bakersfield Calfornian launched its visually dramatic redesign on March 1. Early results are overwhelmingly positive.
According to Executive Editor Mike Jenner, subscription starts are up 15-1 over stops and single-copy sales are up 8-13%. Classified Advertising Manager Sally Ellis reports a jump of 1000 inches of advertising in the redesigned Real Estate tab.
These numbers are particularly gratifying because Bakersfield's redesign is not typical of the facelifts that most American newsapers undergo. The Calfornian took some risks, choosing change with a capital C.
This redesign began more than a year ago with a phone call from Jenner to Brass Tacks Design. Jenner said, We're not interested in merely rearragning the deck chairs.
As someone who cares about newspapers and design. this is exactly what I love to hear. The next thing I heard was much more daunting.
The prototype you deliver should make me saw Wow. This admonition came from Richard Beene, president & CEO of The Calfornian, its former editor and Jenner's current boss.
So that was our task to make a 30-year veteran of the newspaper business say Wow! about our proposed changes for his newspaper.
Where do you begin? How do you impress someone who has probably seen it all?
First, you do the research. We reviewed the quantitative research conducted by American Opinion Research (AOR); we gathered qualitative reseach by conducting focus groups on site with readers; we met with all stakeholders in editorial, advertising, circulation and corporate; and we toured the market to see what it looked like to the people living there.
We learned what was unique about the Bakersfield market. This informed our design strategy.
Bakersfield is the reddest spot in the bluest state.
Bakersfield had the second hottest real estate market in the United States.
Families were moving to Bakersfield because it offered some of the most affordable housing in California.
Next we considered the conventional wisdom about newspaper design and ran in the opposite direction. Here's how the redesign of the Bakersfield Californian (TBC) defied the Conventional Wisdom (CW):
Story play
CW: The most important stories get the best play
TBC: Importance is merely one consideration. Stories that are relevant, compelling and/or interesting deserve equal consideration.
Use of color
CW: Create a color palate of soft, subtle shades that reflect the community
TBC: Liberally splash bright, intense colors across section fronts
Headline typography
CW: Pick a modern interpretation of an elegant, Oldstyle serifed font for headlines, then use a sans serif head on no more than one story per front.
TBC: All heads use a simple sans serif font
Placing main art above the fold
CW: Make sure the main art appears above the fold on fronts
TBC: There's plenty of art in the nameplates and section flags, so there's no need for lead art above the fold or anywhere else.
Use of photography
CW: Every page should have a dominant element probably a large photograph
TBC: Photos cropped for impact need not be particularly large to communicate
Two months after our initial meetings I returned to Bakersfield armed with nine prototype pages based on nine published pages. We spread the befores-and-afters on the floor of a conference room. Richard Beene walked in at 10:00 a.m. At 10:01 we heard what I traveled coast-to-coast to hear Wow!
Then the real work began turning this redesign into a reality. We worked with the staff to produce more pages. We built an entire prototype edition, revisiting every editing decision on every page to produce a better Californian.
Then we shared this prototype with focus groups so they could compare an actual, published edition with our new vision for the paper.
Focus groups of advertisers overwhelming preferred the new design. Readers differed in their opinons. Many readers thought the front page had gone too far. Other readers, particularly younger ones, preferred the new design overall. One woman said, I used to subscribe but I stopped. I'll resubscribe if I can get the paper in this new format.
That's focus group gold.
Adjustments and improvments to design and content were made during the winter. The new design was launched March 1.
