A new day, a new Dispatch

Transcription

1 / SUNDAY, JANUARY 27, 2013 / SPECIAL SECTION A new day, a new Dispatch A guide to the redesigned newspaper [ The page size is smaller, but the newspaper contains more pages. The size is handier and more convenient, and the content is just as meaty. Contemporary. Dynamic. Fresh. Functional. Beginning Monday, The Dispatch redefines what a newspaper can be. D I S PAT C H P H O T O I L L U S T R AT I O N ]

2 2 Vibrant sections, cover to cover lthough it remains a fully sectioned broadsheet newspaper, the new Dispatch isn t just a smaller version of the present-day paper. With its updated design and size, enhanced organization, enduring breadth of content and attention to staff branding, the paper might be likened to a daily news magazine. A DAILY SECTIONS A-SECTION: Generally speaking, the section showcases the best news of the day every day. NATION & WORLD: The section typically encompasses the most notable national and international news that doesn t make the front page. METRO & STATE: The section picks up the most notable state and local stories that don t make the front page or the A-section. SPORTS: Without Classified ads in the back (they move to the daily Business section), Sports takes on a more structured approach. DAILY BUSINESS: The section stands alone every day of the week. LIFE & ARTS: It publishes Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. On Wednesdays, the content is contained inside the Food & Life section. WEEKLY SECTIONS Wednesdays Thursdays (formerly Home & Garden) MONTHLY SEASONAL SECTIONS Saturdays during the college-football season during the college-football season The last Sunday of the month

3 3 Better organization and flow Our improved organization puts a premium on story packaging and story labeling both of which become more consistent from day to day. Several elements facilitate the heightened organization: our new subsections and destination pages as well as our modular ad sizes and ad stacks. Combined, they make for an easy-to-follow paper. Body text remains unchanged Whenever a newspaper introduces a redesign, longtime readers often ask (with good reason): Are you changing the type? With this redesign, the answer is no. The text you are reading here is the text you ve grown accustomed to in recent years and the text you will see come Monday Sept. 10, when we officially introduce the re-formatted paper. What we have now has served us well so we re staying with 9-point Utopia on 10-point leading. SUBSECTIONS Because the more-compact size means fewer stories per page, our subsections (pages within sections that appear regularly) provide a natural and appealing way to organize inside pages. Our subsections were identified and created based on content that readers have told us, through marketing research, that they value. Some examples: SUNDAY BUSINESS: Personal finance, Around Ohio SPORTS (daily): seasonal coverage, including the NHL, NFL, Major League Baseball and so on AT HOME (): Gardening, Home projects, Real estate NATION & WORLD (Mondays to Saturdays): Opinion pages METRO & STATE (Fridays): Faith & Values INSIGHT (): Science, Opinion pages Modularity a win-win Modular ad stacking or, designing ads with standardized units creates a cleaner canvas for page presentation that says inviting and well-organized. The cleaner canvas allows our designers to create eyecatching subsections and destination pages within each section, enhancing the reading experience and creating ideal conditions for an advertiser. With ads stacking inside out, readers have told us that they more readily see the ads as they read across pages of the new Dispatch. Such stacking means L- shaped ad configurations (represented by the gray blocks in the page shown above) become more common a plus for advertisers and for page design. DESTINATION PAGES Destination pages like subsection covers, they re rooted in reader preferences offer consistency in quality and placement. Some examples: WHAT S ON THE AIR: the back of Life & Arts, Mondays-Saturdays TODAY S WEATHER: the back of Metro & State daily THE WEEK IN REVIEW: Page 2 of Business, only SPORTS REPORT: Page 2 of Sports, daily COOK S CORNER: Page 2 of Food & Life, Wednesdays

4 4 Navigating the newness he big change in the look of The Dispatch is sure to make regular readers wonder about any changes in content. Anticipating questions to that effect, we offer a summary of some key differences between the current version of the paper and the one that will land outside your doors on in eight days. Monday. T A-SECTION THE SECTION OVERALL: Currently, the A-section contains the top local and state news, all national and international news, the Business pages and all editorials and opinion columns. In the new Dispatch, the top stories of the day generally land in the A-section, as will any jumps from the front page. PAGEA2: A2:The TheSpeed SpeedRead Readpage pageofoftoday todaybecomes becomes Not NottotobebeMissed, missed with on Sept. PAGE 10, with Speed Read streamlined intoindex. Today s page continues Speed Read streamlined into Today s TheIndex. page The continues to carry to carry photoofofthe theday day (preferably (preferablyone onetaken takenbybyaadispatch Dispatchphotographer) photographer)asaswell well aa photo asaafew few talkers talkers (stories (storiesthat thatare aresure suretotogenerate generatewater-cooler water-coolerdiscussions). talk). as NATION & WORLD METRO & STATE A SECTION: Nation & World consists of the top national and international news that doesn t make the first A-section. Anchored on Page 2 daily are a briefs package and the Almanac (which relocates here from Page 2 of Life & Arts). LOCAL, LOCAL: Overnight concert and theater reviews go inside Metro (from Page A2 now) but aren t anchored. Five days a week on Page 2, the section carries an Insider column related to public affairs, justice, education, local government or transportation. YOUR HEALTH BUSINESS A NAME TWEAK: Our health section, which appears on the last Sunday of the month, takes on an abbreviated name. DAILY INDEPENDENCE: Business becomes a stand-alone section seven days a week, as it once was. Bankruptcy listings move to the section (from Metro & State); and, from Monday to Saturday, the Classified ads run in the back of Business (instead of the back of Sports).

5 SPORTS FOOTBALL FARE: The most notable change in Sports comes in our college-football coverage. Gameday+ houses all but late-breaking college-football content on Saturdays during the season; likewise, our new College Football section houses Buckeye and other college gridiron coverage on during the fall. FEATURES SECTIONS DAILY: The People column moves to Page 2 (from the back of Life & Arts) and is renamed Celebrity Scoop. Also on Page 2 is a rotating series of rail items whose subject matter encompasses movies, social media, apps and more. WEDNESDAY: Robin Davis Get Real column moves out front (from inside) on Wednesdays in Food & Life. Also this day, the Life & Arts material moves inside the section. SUNDAY: A variation of the Best Bets (currently found in the Cl!ck TV book) becomes a feature called TV This Week, which runs on Page 2 of Arts & Life. And, in the Life & Arts section Mondays through Saturdays, a couple of daily Best Bets are introduced on the TV page. SUNDAY: Home & Garden is renamed At Home and split into subsections: Gardening, Home projects and Real estate. SUNDAY: Page 2 of Travel becomes the regular home of Hello, Columbus one of our most enduring readerinteractive features. WEEKENDER Our entertainment guide is redesigned and resized (to mirror the rest of the paper) but undergoes only a few changes in content. Page 2 showcases our weekly suggestions of things to do, see and experience off the beaten path as well as the weekly rundown on concert/event ticket sales. In addition, some content areas get new names: Sports & Recreation, Dining & Dessert, Movies & More and Families at Play. 5