Star Ledger publishes first copy of redesigned paper

Posted by Jennifer Lush on November 19, 2009 at 1:19 PM

New Jersey paper the Star-Ledger, published its first redesigned print edition today, with a front-page editor's note reading: "it is done with one goal in mind: making it easier for you to read."

"Yes, we've made the type bigger," Kevin Whitmer writes, and "in addition to the larger body copy, we have reformatted every piece of typography in the paper."

The note also suggests the changes have "cleared out some of the clutter from our pages, updated the colors we use and modernized our headline fonts. What's more, we'll no longer squish, scrunch or squeeze those headlines to fit our new page size."

The Star-Leger is just one of many papers that have been hit hard by the financial crisis and it has been particularly careful about tightening its belt and taking initiatives to re-entice its readers.

In September last year, after filing to cancel its subscription with the expensive news wire AP, the Ledger trialled reporting without relying on the service for a day to see whether it was a viable option to cut the cost altogether. Another troubled news organisation, Tribune co. followed suit earlier this month when it had all its newspapers use no or as little content as possible for an entire week.

The Ledger has also made serious cutbacks, slashing its workforce by 40% following threats of closure last year. In October the paper announced it would cut another 50 positions, after further disheartening revenue figures and reports showing the paper was continuing to losing money.

The redesign comes as the Ledger attempts to lure back readers in the hope that with them will come greater revenue.

The entire front page can be viewed here.

Source: Editor & Publisher