Tribune Debuts New Design

January 14, 2008

tribune.jpgWith an 80-minute commute, I get my morning news from AM radio and my cell phone. There’s no time for printed newspapers anymore. But when I heard on WGN Radio this morning that the Chicago Tribune was unveiling its new design I stopped at the next gas station and purchased a copy.

Like others, the Tribune narrowed its pages and simplified its design. Newspaper 2.0 if you will. The slimmer design should save big bucks as the Wall Street Journal estimated $18 million in savings from its size loss.

Overall, I find this entire newspaper industry transformation fascinating. I predict we’ll eventually see even smaller newspapers and perhaps technology will take the paper out of newspaper. Here is the Tribune’s comments on the change:

Most of the changes are subtle and meant to improve readability throughout the paper. But one change is more dramatic, and that is the redesign of the Page 1 Chicago Tribune nameplate. For 26 years, that nameplate has been printed as white type on a blue background. When it was introduced, it was intended to loudly compete on the newsstands, while also emphasizing our color capabilities. But those reasons have less currency today given the extensive use of color throughout the Tribune and the fact that most of our readers prefer the convenience of home delivery… We also are converting our presses to produce pages that are one-half inch narrower than before, a change that follows an industry trend. That change conserves paper and partially offsets rising newsprint prices. When we previewed the new format, readers said they found the size easier to handle.

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One Response to “Tribune Debuts New Design”

  1. The First American Newspapers : ..:.:.. Todd And = Marketing + Media ..:.:.. on January 14th, 2008 1:13 pm

    [...] Today, newspapers are shrinking, so we may eventually see them get closer to the dimensions of the first American papers - most of which were around 8″ x 12″. History repeats itself. [...]

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