Comments on: First look: South Florida SunSentinel redesign

By: Linda

Linda — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:28:11 +0000

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.

By: Joel

Joel — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 03:46:07 +0000

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.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:56:44 +0000

Gail Gedan Spencer: Well, then, what would you have done?

By: Former designer

Former designer — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 04:10:07 +0000

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.