Hartford Courant polls readers on page one format
One of the most radical changes made in the redesign of the Hartford Courant last September was on page one:
So now the Courant is reconsidering, the paper announced Friday:
Last year we changed our front page, moving the masthead to the far left of the newspaper as you see today. We were changing the format of the newspaper and wanted to signal that with dramatic design.
Now, we’re not so sure. We’re thinking of moving it back. We’re interested in hearing opinions before we make another big decision although this is only an informal (not binding) poll.
The Courant posted three front pages (click for a slightly larger view)…
…and asked readers to vote.
The results, as of 11 a.m. EDT, with 677 readers responding:
Design director Melanie Shaffer explains:
We had a leadership change at The Courant about two months ago which prompted some frank discussions about what our readership was saying and our new look. We decided to take a step back and reevaluate some elements of our most recent redesign, plus take an opportunity to inject the page with more color.
What you see are two very different ideas that we floated around the staff last week and have since opened a message board to readers this week. I haven’t had the opportunity to hear all the comments from the staff just yet, so I’ll reserve comment. The online reader comments clearly are going for number 2!
Those comments are pretty good reading. Find it all here.
June 22nd, 2009 at 10:56 am
Honestly, I don’t particularly care for any of the options presented here. I liked the old Courant before the redesign. It seems like in these new attempts to align with the other Tribune Company papers they’ve forgotten and lost their own visual identity.
If they’re going to do anything, I wish going back to their old look was an option.
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:04 am
I choose the third one, not because of the masthead, but because the other two – especially the cyan masthead – have so much unnecessary color that my eye doesn’t know where to look.
If you guys revert back, use color, but use maybe a quarter as much as you currently have on these designs. The reason why the third one works so well because it’s bold. It’s not sloppy, though.
June 22nd, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Why introduce all that blue at all? Tinted boxes and colored headlines don’t sell papers, no matter what some folks will tell you. The three choices just look sad when compared to the clean, elegant design that was the Courant barely more than a year ago.
June 22nd, 2009 at 1:04 pm
I agree about too much unneeded color. And, lordy, I know this there’s some Tribune history with this, but PROCESS CYAN??
I go with the traditional mast in the middle.
June 22nd, 2009 at 5:26 pm
First of all, why does the current front example have an ad while the prototypes do not? Why did someone try to do the index stuff on the prototypes, but not the current design? What’s with the cyan fest -somebody lurve the Oklahoman?
So the previous design honcho is out and now everyone is backseat driving. Geez.
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:06 am
I think they got it right the first time around — that sideways logo is attractive, striking and unusual.
June 23rd, 2009 at 10:00 am
The new masthead and interior graphics are the best thing about the corrent Courant.
August 29th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
I liked the old masthead that was used for 70+ years. They should not have changed it.