First look: South Florida SunSentinel redesign
Your worldwide exclusive look: The new-and-improved SunSentinel:
Yes, that’s one word: SunSentinel. Looks like Tribune company cutbacks have finally affected punctuation. The folks in Fort Lauderdale laid off a hyphen.
Kidding aside, the new look is strikingly different. Radical, even.
SunSentinel design director Paul Wallen writes:
We were asked to reinvent the SunSentinel from the ground up. This is how far we could get in three months.
The launch of this redesign isn’t the end, but a beginning. We’ll use this framework to further evolve our content and execution.
Although our median reader is in the mid to late 50s, our target audience is almost a generation younger. We’re after occasional readers, people who don’t feel they have the time or enough interest to read our paper on a regular basis.
Working variations of the page one toppers.
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Much emphasis has been placed on making content feel accessible, easy to read and easy to find. We also want the paper to feel vibrant and alive, much like the community it serves. And we wanted no doubt that this is a different paper.
To that end, every piece of print product we produce was touched, starting with our nameplate and the development of a “superbrand†for all our products.
The new design launches this coming Sunday, Aug. 17. Paul promises us a closer look later this week. Stay tuned.
Want a bigger look? Try clicking on these:
August 11th, 2008 at 5:41 am
Wow, it really is really, really different. Hmm. Wow.
Hmmmm… Not sure what I think yet. I want to like it. I really do.
As a resident of South Florida, though, I wonder if they’d really use such a gigantic headline for a Cat. 2 hurricane. If that’s the case, then what would a Cat. 5 hurricane front page look like? I was in Miami for Wilma, and while it was a pain and an annoyance, I wouldn’t say we got hammered. Hurricane Andrew… Now that’s a different story. But maybe that page is just for the sake of an example.
August 11th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Ha, I worked for the Sun-Sentinel (1989-1993) and braved Andrew’s fury overnight while hunkered down in the 10th-floor photo studio. I think the SS would go with a two-line head if another Cat-5 storm came through. . . .
Now, this is a very tabloid front page. I, of course, don’t mean that in a negative way at all. This design does what a tab front page should. Use toppers well, provide a decisive, clear snapshot of a day and dare you to turning inside to find more interesting items.
This type of page is driven by the culture, conversations and characters involved in the news meetings. I would like to know more about how Earl led a culture change for news planning and coverage.
You can’t produce this type of page the way most broadsheet editors decide A1 items in news meetings.
They would have had to implement a new strategy to back up the design if they truly plan on pulling this off every day.
August 11th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
This is amazing – a truly bold redesign, especially compared to some of the other ones I’ve seen. The thing I love is how typography sells itself as art. I feel inspired looking at it actually.
I hope that, however it ends up working in the long term, it keeps that vitality, and like Robb said, the editors are on board.
August 11th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
I’d buy that paper from a newspaper rack. It’s going to grab many tourists by the eyeballs and never let go.
The new front page and toppers look great. I hope the newspaper’s content and analysis remains to keep the regular subscriber base happy (and informed).
August 11th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
We would expect nothing less than this kind of innovation and polish from the Sun-Sentinel. Super slick, guys. Good luck this weekend!
August 11th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
As a laid-off copy editor for the Sun(hyphen)Sentinel, I feel compelled to point out the typos:
– On the “Hammered” cover, I think the promo should read “predicting the path OF storm” and “get the latest INSIGHTS…”
– On the “Riley steps down as coach” billboards, governor would be lowercase
– On the “Medicines are rarely kid-tested” billboard, the name of the city is actually Aventura.
(And yes I am being a bitter smart-@ss.)
August 11th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
One of the most innovative front-page designs I’ve seen, and I can’t wait to see more (and read about how you pulled it off!). Nice work, guys.
August 11th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Splashy? Yes. Reader-friendly? Perhaps for those who scan headlines. Comic-book look? For sure. Sophomoric? Absolutely.
What are they going to do to catch readers’ attention after a month of 72-point headlines? Keep reusing HAMMERED, I suppose. Hammered by a hurricane. Hammered by high food prices. Hammered by a butterfly ballot. Hammered by anthrax.
The thing that this design completely neglects is that newspapers are for people who like to READ. As a news consumer, I would scan the one- to three-word headlines and perhaps the skyboxes, then thrown this where it belongs — in a trash can outside a smelly Dania Beach bus stop.
Congrats. You’ve pandered — in a weak way — to the casual reader at the expense of the real reader. Good luck with that.
August 11th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
i am plesantly surprised with the new look. i think it is boldly designed and allows flexibility.
i am, however, going to back up gail here and note that i think that before prototype pages are released, and this goes for all up coming redesigns, they should be edited. redesigns are important, but people looking at there advance pages want to make sure that although the style is changing, our commitment to accuracy in all form is not.
many more people outside the design community are following these transitions and i think “they’re just mock-up pages” is no longer an excuse for why an early-release page isn’t 100 percent accurate.
designers have been asking for a long time to be considered vital to the newsroom; we want to prove that we’re journalists too, but it doesn’t look that way when we make rookie mistakes on prototypes that are being posted fo the masses.
ok, so i got a bit off topic, but i felt strongly. nice work from the s(-)s. can’t wait to get a coule copies up here in orlando. good luck to tim frank, paul wallen, chris mihal, tball and all my other former buddies in sofla.
August 11th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Talk about self-congratulatory. (Thanks, Bonita!)
Today’s edition was a yawn. Big headlines and some containables. That is really innovative, if it’s 1974.
August 11th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
I am going to enjoy watching this publication for the next couple of months as they begin to experiment with the new tools in their toy box. Lots of great foundation here.
August 12th, 2008 at 12:14 am
Love the new look. But the egregious grammatical error in the page-topper head “Hey, where’s our rebate checks” will provoke many to see this as a dumbing-down, I suspect.
August 12th, 2008 at 8:30 am
I knew the redesign was coming and to be honest, didn’t have much confidence in how well it would be done. I must say that I think it’s bold and a step in the right direction. I am very interested in seeing how successful it turns out. I even like the reworking of the logo. Nice job.
August 12th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Of course the greatest irony nobody wants to talk about is that if Tribune keeps on laying off bodies left and right, there’s going to be nobody left to put together design-intensive pages like this.
Good luck to all those affected.
August 12th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Nice design, but off target for their actual audience of 50+.
I guess you can wish for a younger demo, but they shouldn’t ignore those that pay the bills. The newspaper has no choice to attract a younger audience, and this totally reflects that desire.
I totally don’t understand the “Superman S” and use of the individual letters. It’s a waste of space and does nothing for the reader.
The new design does one thing very effectively; it makes better use of less content. The new design makes it appear that there’s really not much content left after all the editorial layoffs.
August 12th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Won’t those ad stickers plastered on the front page ruin the new design? Did anybody consider that?
August 12th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Apparently grammar doesn’t count, just as long as it looks snappy. “Where’s our rebate checks” makes the bile rise in my throat.
August 12th, 2008 at 11:23 am
It’s a valid point — for better or worse, the under 30 demographic isn’t coming back to the printed newspaper, so why not do the best you can to keep the older demographic that still wants its paper in its current form?
August 12th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
The first thing I thought was: “‘Hey, [where is] our rebate checks?’ That can’t be right.” (And I’m hardly the grammarian.)
The stacked headlines are definitely interesting. I like all the variations.
It took me 3 or 4 looks before I realized the story on the left went with the grocery bag and numbers.
August 12th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Colorful? Yes. “Hard to Stomach?” A little, yes. I admire the SunSentinel’s stab at this, but as a designer, it’s a good rule of thumb to let your content drive your design, not the other way around. Good luck! I’ll be interested to hear how readers respond.
And please, proof these things before you post them for the world to see. It makes what could be a good thing look bad. Maybe Zell should hire back some of those fired copy editors!
August 12th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
This is really, really bold.
Successful or not, this might just be something that moves newspaper design forward into The Next Phase.
The points about the over-50 audience are valid concern. But the SunSentinel is also in an uber-competitive market. They have to be bold — and this really ought to scare the shit out of the single-copy managers in Palm Beach and Miami.
Adrian … how are those prototypes of the E-N masthead coming along …? :)
August 12th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
It’s nice redesign, nice use of color, etc., but agree, it won’t do much for the median reader…probably turn them off. I agree, you won’t attract the target audience..they are all about getting news online, on phone, etc.
The logo is odd for the Sentinel [ex Society editor] and moves away from the “conservative” feel/look of the company and its brand. Done intentionally no doubt to attract that 30-something-year-old. I like the layout but it would be better suited for a different publication/paper. First, it reminded me of the Chicago Sun-Times redesign years back. Today’s Sun-Times design is a toned down version of the original design. The bottom portion of the new layout makes me think too much of the Miami Herald’s summary of what’s in the paper..I think it appears in the front section, on the back page.
I think SunSentinel needs to look at its parent paper, the Chicago Tribune, if they want to appeal to their audience…easy layout, fonts appeal to older, business-type reader. It’s easy to fold over and read when commuting or when stories jump, it’s clean and flows.
August 12th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
ALthough I work at the Tribune when I saw this new redesign I said “WOW! THIS IS GREAT! I like the boldness and it is more readable. I am of the 40 something group and I wanted to see more nad look inside! I can not wait to see the rest of it. Great job!
August 13th, 2008 at 1:34 am
We used the one-word Hammer headline in the original issue after Wilma. It also was played just as large. That Category 2 was a big deal for us as virtually everyone was out of power for days and had property damage.
Also, unfortunately that’s how the rebate headline was written in the actual paper. We caught grief for it the next day.
By the way, we’re doing our Olympics pages in the new design/page width. TBall is doing a nice job with the presenttion.
August 13th, 2008 at 10:16 am
I’m 56, and I can say that if this styling were to be adopted by my city’s paper, it would definitely drive me to digital media.
August 13th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
No matter how you sex up the paper, it’s still “the paper” and younger readers are NOT going to start the habit of reading it.
That bullet train has sped by.
Heck, I’m in my 40s (old by target demo standards) and I stopped reading the paper for news a long time ago. I’m one of those time-starved soccer moms. (Well, yeah, I have loads of time now, being laid off and all, but I digress.) Give me my Yahoo page and my Internet-equipped phone and I’m good to go.
August 13th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
>>No matter how you sex up the paper, it’s still “the paper†and
>>younger readers are NOT going to start the habit of reading it.
>>That bullet train has sped by.
You’re 100% right. It’s a tough reality, but it’s reality. People my age aren’t going to pick up the paper regardless of how flashy it looks. (In fact, the people I know my age who DO read a paper tend to go for the New York Times and other modestly designed papers.) I’m afraid anyone who thinks that will change doesn’t know this demographic.
August 13th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Totally off point, but….
In regards to the wilma hed and the strenght of the storm…
Yes, she came ashore as a cat. 2 and was, obviously, expected to weaken over land. Therefore, the unexpected aftermath, I think warranted the “hammered” hed. I was there an all, and without power for two weeks I might add…
In the end, though, after the season was over NOAA went back and revised its stats on Wilma, stating that hit Lauderdale and the vacinity at a small Cat. 4. So, sure, it was awhile later, but ultimatly we were hammered.
So there.
August 13th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Really cool stuff, people. I like the various treatments, but particularly the idea of selling one story on the front — with a bunch of promos. That’s something I’ve seen before in Mexican newspapers, except their promos are much more labor intensive and, as a result, better looking. But hey, the idea is there…
August 14th, 2008 at 11:40 am
—————————————————–
Dean Lockwood wrote: “Adrian … how are those prototypes of the E-N masthead coming along …?”
—————————————————–
Hey Dean, don’t speak too loud here about our prototypes… we don’t t want to have Mr. Apple looking behind our shoulders.
And by the way: We have a significant advance on that. :)
August 14th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
“S”—–Superman!!!!!!!!!
I get it, the new editor is Clark Kent.
Finally, a front page even Lee Abrams can understand!
August 14th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Kinda looks like a cereal box. But hey that’s a good thing right? People usually read those!
August 14th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
The headline treatment on the Wilma coverage is justified. As Cone said, it beat the shit out of South Florida. And because of South Florida’s lack of preparedness for even a Cat. 1/2 storm, it had a greater effect on the area than such a storm should.
It’s been said before, but I’ll say it again in slightly different words: You can thrown a new coat of paint on an old, beat-up, broken-down car, but the car won’t perform any better or spur someone to buy it. The Sentinel, like a lot of major dailies, is broken beyond repair as long as the people in charge remain in charge and maybe even forever. And that’s one of the sadest things in America right now.
Sam Zell can drop fuckin’ dead! Let him choke on some of his money.
August 15th, 2008 at 10:11 am
I often buy cereal boxes because of how they look and the game on the back. Not even kidding, I love redoing the puzzles every morning!
That said, Will is mostly right. I’m not going to judge but I’m just curious to know what thought processes went into the decision. I want to know WHY WHY WHY! The rest is cake.
August 15th, 2008 at 10:26 am
looks like a UK tabloid front page - It’s an interesting design but the design team seems to have forgotten that the site is supposed to represent a news organization. Something that should give off the feelings of trust, integrity, dedication…this looks gives off feelings like scandal, trite, frivolous
The day it looks like that is the day I go to the sentinel for nothing more than the society pictures and movie reviews
good design for a ‘daily rag sheet’
August 16th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Can’t stand the black and red. And it’s still a newspaper, still the Sun-Sentinel. Hyphen or no. Typos or no. (But, love the idea that the hyphen was laid off.)
Really, will most under-50 readers even NOTICE the changes? Barely. So why are we using words like ‘Bold’ and ‘Awesome’?
You know, we yak and yak about redesign. Yet, has any redesign of any paper ever turned around a financially troubled daily? Would love to see one example where that was the case.
I’m at the point where the phrase “redesign” immediately makes me think “waste of money and resources” and “some upper-crust design types get to spend a year tooling around on their Macs for no real bottom-line benefits.”
Redesigns make me yawn, sorry.
August 18th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Gail Gedan Spencer: Well, then, what would you have done?
August 19th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
I am in the under-25 age range, and I can tell you that I will never read this newspaper again. Unlike most people my age, I read the newspaper every day, and I don’t need graphics all over the place telling me to read a 7 inch article. I read the newspaper for content I can’t get anywhere else, not for splashy graphics.
August 21st, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I’m in my 40s (above the target demographic, below the avg reader), and really disappointed by the format changes. I read the paper for the content, and that seems to have been lost in the new format. If all I need are headlines plus 2 sentences of text, then I can read the scroll-line on CNN. All those graphics haven’t made USA Today a good paper, so why do you think substituting graphics for content will work with a regional paper? Regarding your older readers, you’re losing them too. My dad recently said that he only gets the Sun Sentinel for the coupons.