New full colour edition!
September 23rd, 2008
So this morning The Independent was the latest UK paper to launch a redesign. Well, sort of.
Not much to say really; the skeleton of the 2005 Cases design and most of the type is still there, though the grid has changed to 5 columns. One sans serif that’s already over-used in newspapers (whitney) has been replaced by another (amplitude), and there’s colour, like, everywhere. The discipline of the original design is gone and it feels more like a middle-market paper, in line with the sympathies of its editor. The features pull-out has a new and stunningly unoriginal name (”Life”) and a new design with lots of big clarendon and colour but still somehow manages to feel like the old one.
But the best thing about it is the editor’s letter on page 2. I swear theres a template for these things in Microsoft Word, because they alway say exactly the same… Viz:
“you may have noticed a new look to your (insert name of newspaper here) today”
“in addition to our fresh new look we have introduced a number of improvements to the paper’s structure and content”
“colour-coded signposting… easier to navigate”
” a more modern and elegant font”
And so on… Please don’t wake me up
(Update. Theres a longer, slightly more considered, and much less bitchy version of this post here).
Pingback by magCulture.com / editorial design — September 23, 2008 @ 11:46 am
[...] Mark Porter looks over today’s redesign of The Independent newspaper and notes how editor’s letters fall into cliché as they explain redesigns to their readers: “a more modern and elegant font…” etc September 23, 2008 | In Magazines, News | Permalink | [...]
Comment by Alan in Belfast — September 23, 2008 @ 5:17 pm
Well, the copy of this morning’s Independent I picked up in Northern Ireland was still only half colour (despite all the talk of new presses in Belfast).
The front page of Independent life was in black and white, and lots of photos that spanned across two pages were in colour on one side and grey on the other. Bizarre.
And the editor’s letter in page 2 was printed on a monochrome page!
You were definitely less bitchy over on the Guardian! (Though the Guardian struggled to go full colour in NI for years … used to be a reference to the TV review to a page number (and content) that didn’t exist.)
Pingback by Quinta Tinta — September 23, 2008 @ 11:48 pm
[...] que he decidido no comprar es justo el primero de un nuevo diseño. Mark Porter lo pone a caldo en su blog y en The Guardian. Pero, en fin, que este post sólo viene al caso para decir que mañana cojo otro [...]
Comment by cookiedesign — September 24, 2008 @ 11:04 am
Thank you for the opportunity to look up your great work! very nice blog!
Comment by Alan in Belfast — September 24, 2008 @ 1:49 pm
Proper full colour today in NI! Phew.
Pingback by Hat Trik (2): Fiesta Bostezo en Ubik « CuatroTipos — September 26, 2008 @ 4:13 pm
[...] de The Guardian no pierde ocasión para puntualizar los rediseños de la competencia, este martes se despacha a gusto en su blog con el nuevo rediseño de The Independent de Cases y Associats, que en adelante será a todo color [...]
Pingback by Mark Porter » Blog Archive » The Independent rides again — April 27, 2010 @ 12:35 pm
[...] last design (launched less than two years ago) was very much what one would have expected from then editor [...]